Our intern summit wrapped up officially last night with dinner at Peking Duck House in Chinatown. Don't let the name of the restaurant fool you -- it's Chinese food.The internship program at the Associated Press has three divisions: business, technology and editorial. During the summit, we business associates were the oldest folks in the room -- at least the 7 of 10 of us pursuing graduate degrees. Some of my fellow "closer to 30 than 20" comrades are pictured above. Note the lack of wide-eyed youthful awe.
This marks the second time I have claimed the prestigious title of Summer Intern, the first being nine years ago, when I was a Dow Jones Newspaper Fund copy editing intern at the Columbus Dispatch in Ohio. Due to a combination of my own naivete, what one could argue were shortcomings of the program itself, and the fact that after 10 weeks I found virtually nothing nice to say about Columbus, this was not an experience I cherish. But it was still valuable, if for no other reason because it showed me that, to get the kind of newsroom experience I wanted, I needed to go to a smaller paper. That's what led me to my first full-time job at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, where I ended up staying, happily, for nearly five years.
Smaller companies can be a great fit for some. The Caller-Times had a family atmosphere, and it was easy to exert influence, take risks and learn. Bigger companies, like the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (my next paper), can have their advantages, too. They have more resources and tend to be more surefooted. There were things I was able to do at the Star-Telegram I wouldn't have been able to do at the Caller-Times, and vice versa. I wouldn't say one is a better workplace than the other; it just depends on what kind of person you are and what you're interested in doing.
The AP is, of course, a very large global company, but the department in which I work is small. So I have freedom and autonomy as well as resources and support. It's a nice mix. I think I made a good choice.
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