Jump at Every Opportunity: Shadowing vs. Interning

by Lena Wallace

Over the holiday break, I shadowed a producer at WWBT NBC 12 Richmond. Although the producer I shadowed was not a Newhouse graduate, I was connected to him by a Newhouse professor. This networking taught me that the Newhouse faculty is well-connected and are willing to take the time to help you network. In return, it is obviously important to represent Newhouse professionally. Shadowing is not the same as interning. As an intern, you are allowed to have your writing produced. Shadowing opportunities are more about asking questions and observing how the newsroom operates. Both shadowing and interning are majorly important before job searching. For example, I learned what is important to the Richmond, Virginia community and how the station is staying relevant. If I was interning, I would be focusing more on producing content rather than analyzing audience and tactics.

When explaining the role of a news producer to the average person, they usually do not understand the hardships associated with the job. Tasks include: taking charge of a newscast, establishing newsroom ethics, writing the newscasts, communicating with anchors and timing the newscast. The behind-the-scene job can be stressful but extremely rewarding, especially when the producer hears the anchors read their writing on-air and it flows well and is easy to understand. The key to newswriting for producers is to be precise and get to the point, while writing for the ear, conversationally. My advice is when a station is not accepting interns over certain school breaks, just ask to shadow. You can learn so much from simply watching a professional do their job.