| Black Collegian News & Views Black College Wire Prepares Interns for Media Careers
Release by Black College Wire
June 9, 2006 - On her first working day as a newspaper reporter, Tiesha
Henderson took an assignment that looked easy and heartwarming: Go talk to
a Dallas charity about its upcoming fund-raiser.
"I thought it would be a quick little good-feeling human interest story,"
Henderson said, catching her breath between calls to the Internal Revenue
Service and scholarship winners. "My first story is turning into a huge lesson
in journalism."
The Dallas Examiner summer intern had discovered a story behind the
story: Despite its good works, the charity might not be legally incorporated
and its fund-raising might not be tax deductible.
Henderson found her story by checking public records, as she had been urged
to do during her just-completed training at the Black College Wire's annual
summer journalism institute. She is one of 15 student journalists who began
reporting June 5 for black-owned print, radio and online publications as Black
College Wire interns.
"With generous grant support, we continue to prepare students for careers in
media," said Pearl Stewart, Black College Wire founder and coordinator.
"Now, with our online and radio partnerships, we are able to expose students to
a
wider range of career options."
In a new partnership for Black College Wire, one summer intern will write and
edit for IMDiversity.com, THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine, and THE BLACK COLLEGIAN
Online. In
another new partnership, one intern will write and record original articles for PopandPolitics.com, the Web site of author and National Public Radio commentator
Farai Chideya.
Two will report and write for Black College Wire, a nonprofit news service
linking the newspapers of the historically black colleges and universities.
Others will report, edit, design or take photographs for black-owned
newspapers including the Dallas Examiner, the New Pittsburgh Courier and the
Atlanta Daily World.
During the first week on the job, many found themselves in the thick of
breaking news.
Armed with his notebook and camera, W. Hassan Marsh of Morehouse College
covered a union demonstration for a same-day deadline at the Atlanta Voice. The
newspaper published his report and one of his pictures on its Web site.
Intern Shana Pinnock, a Spelman College student writing for the New York
Amsterdam News, covered a controversy about cutbacks in New York City's homeland
security funding. She tracked down law enforcement officials to get comments.
"I think the hardest thing so far is getting call-backs from sources," Pinnock
said. "You have to be persistent and keep calling. When I couldn't get the
commissioner on the phone, then I started calling the deputy commissioner."
The interns began their summer with training May 31-June 4 at the Freedom Forum
Diversity Institute at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. There, the interns
received instruction in the fundamentals of interviewing, research and
newswriting. They attended courses on digital photography and digital recording,
to prepare to be all-around journalists.
Guest lecturers included John Seigenthaler, founder, and Gene Policinski, executive
director, of the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center; Dwight Lewis, columnist,
and Christian Bottorff and Ailene Torres, reporters, at the Tennessean. The
students also toured African American historic sites in Nashville and
quizzed community leaders as part of their training for covering communities for
the black press.
Black College Wire's summer internship program is possible thanks to grants
from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation and the John S. and
James L. Knight Foundation.
Black College Wire, www.blackcollegewire.org, showcases the work of student
journalists at the historically black colleges and covers issues of interest to
readers on those campuses. The news service has supplied articles to collegiate
newspapers, the nation's black press, and many other newspapers, Web sites and
news services including AOL Black Voices, the Miami Herald, Dow Jones College
Journal, BlackAmericaWeb.com, and KRT Campus. Through recent partnerships with
THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine, its student writers have covered Hurricane
Katrina's effect on Gulf region colleges.
Black College Wire is a project of the Black College Communication
Association, which supports the development and improvement of journalism
education at historically black colleges. Partners include the National
Association of Black Journalists and the
Maynard Institute for Journalism Education.
The 2006 summer interns are:
Carla Aaron-Lopez
North Carolina Central University
Internship: New Pittsburgh Courier
Hometown: Charlotte, N.C.
Anthony Anamelechi
Florida A&M University
Internship: Black College Wire
Hometown: Washington, D.C.
Drew C. Costley
Howard University
Internship: The Washington Informer
Hometown: Arlington, Va.
Ashley R. Harris
University of Houston
Internship: Houston Defender
Hometown: Missouri City, Texas
Tiesha Henderson
Hampton University
Internship: The Dallas Examiner
Hometown: Dallas
Ashley Hindsman
Albany State University
Internship: The Atlanta Daily World
Hometown: College Park, Ga.
Ebonie Ledbetter
Florida A&M University
Internship: Capital Outlook (Tallahassee, Fla.)
Hometown: Fairburn, Ga.
Shauntel Lowe
University of California at Los Angeles
Internship: Black College Wire
Hometown: San Diego, Calif.
John W. Marsh
Florida A&M University
Internship: The Michigan Chronicle
Hometown: Detroit
W. Hassan Marsh
Morehouse College
Internship: The Atlanta Voice
Hometown: Atlanta
Vanessa Mizell
Howard University
Internship: PopandPolitics.com
Hometown: Irvine, Calif.
Shana Pinnock
Spelman College
Internship: New York Amsterdam News
Hometown: Bronx, N.Y.
Alexia R. Robinson
Florida A&M University
Internship: IMDiversity.com/THE BLACK COLLEGIAN
Hometown: Jacksonville, Fla.
Ciara Walker
University of Mississippi
Internship: Mississippi Link
Hometown: Oxford, Miss.
Melaney Whiting
Tennessee State University
Internship: Dallas Weekly
Hometown: Dallas
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