Abstract
Increasingly, top-tier journalism and media schools are entering into partnerships with mainstream media organizations to create and distribute student-produced content. While internships have long been a sanctioned way students learn professional practices, downturns in the economy have led to reductions in paid internship programs. On the rise are digital era practicums, which often challenge students to produce content that is on par with professional work. This investigates how students and educators at three universities experience and compare internships with practicums. It looks at benefits, costs, and concerns.
News internships have long been a way for students to gain practical experience before entering professional careers in journalism. However, the definition of what constitutes an internship is changing in pace with the technological and economic shifts of media organizations. The demand for news content continues to increase even though profit margins continue to shrink, causing some news organizations to rely heavily on students. Media organizations earnestly seek to offer students legitimate learning opportunities. Conversely, legitimate learning can devolve into an overdependence on students, as evidenced in 2012 when the Charlie Rose program agreed to pay up to $250,000 to settle a class action suit filed by a group of its unpaid interns. 1
The shift toward student-produced content is so pervasive that an entire presession at AEJMC’s (Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication) 2012 conference was devoted to this topic. Involved in the session were deans, professors, and legal scholars from Columbia University, the University of Missouri, the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill), the University of Southern California (Annenberg), the University of Oregon, Boston University, the University of Maryland, Arizona State University, and the University of Minnesota. They were joined by executives from the Knight Foundation, the Poynter Institute, and the Student Press Law Center.
In traditional internships, students work at an employer’s premises for a defined period. In contrast, practicums are often structured as supervised courses set outside company premises, generally in universities, designed to simulate the work experience. Interns are typically assigned peripheral newsroom tasks, whereas practicum students’ work is supervised by a professor and published alongside professionals’ work.
News organizations are actively partnering with the above college and university journalism schools to create what I will refer to as digital era practicums. These new programs often center on establishing and maintaining “hyperlocal” websites that provide coverage of neighborhood news, or are college-affiliated “news labs” that produce multimedia stories and articles distributed by established news organizations.
This essay draws from theory to make conceptional distinctions about the dynamics of media training. It begins by addressing some of the historical trends and economic forces that have shaped apprenticeships and training programs over the years. Then it looks at the faculty and students at three university journalism schools’ digital era practicum programs through interviews. I argue that these programs offer students practical experiences that are distinctly different from traditional internships and that they pose new opportunities and possible concerns.
The Apprenticeship Tradition
Bruce Granger notes that apprenticeships were a staple of colonial America’s printing trade. 2 Publication of politically charged pamphlets, stirring essays, and journalistic editorials played a significant role in mobilizing the support needed to rouse public sentiments against the British Crown, and young free laborers (interns) were essential to the cause.
Journalism training and education became academic when Walter Williams established America’s first school of journalism at the University of Missouri in 1908 at the urging of Joseph Pulitzer. A subsequent program began at Columbia University in 1912 at the bequest of the Pulitzer’s estate. 3
Enrollments at the nation’s growing number of journalism schools peaked in 1948 and then fell precipitously as the space race inspired students to turn to careers in engineering and science. Fearing an irreversible trend, Dow Jones established its Newspaper Fund in 1958 to bolster the profession and to provide educators and students with access to real newsroom training. 4 By 1964, the Fund was providing summer internships for students from ninety colleges. Following their ten-week stints, students were rewarded with a check for $500. 5 By the 1990s, 80 percent of U.S. journalism and mass communications graduates in a survey by Becker and Kosicki reported having participated in at least one media internship. 6 However, as journalism settled into the new millennium, the industry-wide practice of offering students practical work experience through apprentice-style programs faced a new challenge.
Within many media organizations, internship programs became a casualty of the economic downturn that occurred as the profession entered the twenty-first century. The Oregonian in Portland, Oregon, the Plain Dealer in Cleveland, and the San Francisco Chronicle were just a few of the major newspapers that cut their paid internship programs for budgetary reasons. 7 Journalism and mass communications schools began to develop more campus-based programs—practicums—that replicated newsroom and news-gathering experiences.
Literature specifically related to journalism and mass communication school practicums is limited. Most of the published research relates to the use of practicums as an established and effective way to train teachers. However, the same distinctions apply to their use in training media students. D. A. Price observes that practicums offer students the opportunity to apply the theoretical knowledge they obtain in more traditional courses. 8 However, Donald Schön argues that practicums reverse the relationship between theory and practice by making practice the driving force in a pedagogical experience. 9
Regardless of their form or structure, journalism internships and practicums are essentially designed as apprenticeships and share a common purpose. They aim to provide students with opportunities to learn in a professional setting. While practicums in journalism education are not new, they are proliferating. Jeane Lave and Etienne Wenger provide a useful conceptual framework for studying these training experiences. 10
Conceptual Framework
Lave and Wenger posit a social learning theory that is useful for making distinctions about how professional communities and their members work together, sustain their existence, and construct their futures. The theorists’ framework centers on situated learning and the ways apprentice-type programs facilitate what they describe as “legitimate peripheral participation” in a profession. The experiences are legitimate in the sense that they are sanctioned by senior members within a profession and are designed to provide training for newcomers. They also give senior members a way to regulate how beginners enter a profession.
Wenger uses the term communities of practice to better describe the social configurations created and organized around given disciplines. 11 Thus, media professionals operate as a “community of practice”—with sharing identity, knowledge, and meaning. The framework asserts that situated learning is inherently social, and therefore dynamic. Tensions occur as established members and incoming members negotiate new practices and retire older practices deemed obsolete. Technological advances, economic instabilities, and cultural trends become integral factors as a community of practice evolves.
The Programs
This essay focuses on digital era practicum programs at UC Berkeley, New York University (NYU), and the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon (SOJC). Geographic location, student demographics, and size of programs were factors considered in choosing the schools. NYU is a private school in an urban setting, UC Berkeley is public and in a suburban setting, and the SOJC is public and in the college town setting of Eugene, Oregon. UC Berkeley’s is a graduate program. NYU’s blends graduate students with undergraduates, and the SOJC’s program is predominately undergraduates.
UC Berkeley launched Mission Loc@l in October 2008, one of its three hyperlocal (neighborhood) news websites. It is designed as an immersive real-world news operation. Content is generated and maintained by graduate students, and the publication’s office is situated in San Francisco’s Mission District. First-year MA students are randomly assigned to work on the site as a requirement of the program, and it is their sole assignment during their first semester.
The publication serves roughly 60,000 residents. 12 Professor Lydia Chavez, an award-winning journalist, oversees the publication. Chavez earned her masters of arts degree from Columbia University’s School of Journalism and has reported for Time magazine, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times. Approximately sixteen students form the staff, and their average age is twenty-five. Most have had previous journalism experience. The best of their work is often featured on SFGate.com, the San Francisco Chronicle’s online publication. 13
The Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at NYU established The Local East Village in September 2010. The hyperlocal online publication is staffed mostly by graduate students who cover news that affects approximately 70,000 residents in an area that extends from Broadway to the East River, and from 14th to Houston Street. The project was affiliated with the New York Times until December 2012. Richard G. Jones, a Pulitzer-nominated journalist, served as The Local East Village’s first editor. Jones has worked as a reporter for the New York Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer. 14 Participants in NYU’s program are primarily graduate students; however, Jones says some “exceptional” undergraduates are allowed to enroll. In fall 2010, the course had thirty students, with three instructors, which he admits was challenging to manage. Winter term’s 2011 enrollment was reduced to a dozen students. While experience is not a prerequisite, most participants have previous journalism experience.
The SOJC administers two digital practicum programs. The first is Newslab, a program where undergraduate students produce multimedia stories, the best of which are published on KVAL.com and/or KATU.com, owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group. Select stories are also broadcast on the company’s television stations. A second partnership exists with the Oregonian newspaper’s website. In 2010, through a special grant, students produced multimedia stories specifically focused on Portland’s Chinatown community. Dan Morrison, a renowned photojournalist, oversees both SOJC practicum programs. Professionally, he has filed stories from more than thirty-one countries, including Australia, Kenya, Mongolia, Morocco, and most recently Afghanistan.
Theory in Practice
Initiation
Lave and Wenger’s theories on situated learning note that communities often have customs that are regulated by elders who can act as gatekeepers. Access must usually be earned as well as granted, as is the case at each of these university programs.
Students at Berkeley’s Mission Loc@l are responsible for immersing themselves within the Mission District community, meeting leaders, and covering an assigned beat.
Silvia Haro earned her undergraduate degree in anthropology at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and then “dabbled” in radio before enrolling in Berkeley’s hyperlocal program. She is in her second year with the site. Haro recalls, “From day one Lydia had us out reporting, and I was freaking out. It was nonstop. It was hard for me because I had no print background. In retrospect, I needed that.”
Digital practicums at the SOJC have few prerequisites. Professor Morrison believes it is essential that students enter these programs well before their senior year to allow them adequate time to hone their skills.
Morrison observes that practicums offer students the freedom to make mistakes before their work is assessed by professionals. He would not forward work to media organizations that did not meet a high standard. “There’s that extra layer of instruction,” he says, whereas in an internship, if you screw up a few times, you’re done.”
Central to Lave and Wenger’s theory is the notion of practice as learning. Engaging students in practical hands-on learning is not merely a logical pedagogical concept, its specific intent is much more foundational. The objective is to introduce and have newcomers become grounded in the community’s fundamental practices. There is a sense that “this is how we do things here.” Newcomers are charged with emulating practices that are “epistemologically correct.”
Wenger speaks of the process of reification that occurs within communities of practice. In this context, the word addresses how communities create and maintain jargon to solidify shared concepts, thereby making abstractions “things.” The terms “lede,” “nut graph,” and “inverted pyramid” hold distinct meanings in newsroom conversations between journalists, but are likely to sound foreign to casual observers.
Internships
All three schools continue to emphasize the importance of internships, realizing that they offer students a chance to participate in news-gathering alongside seasoned professionals. They also can offer invaluable networking opportunities, and for students who prove themselves, internships can lead to employment.
Prior to her student experience with Mission Loc@l, Rebecca Marshall interned with the Associated Press and the Christian Science Monitor. She observed the two experiences to be quite distinct: “When you’re in a real newsroom, one of the best things is learning through osmosis; just observing how professionals do their interviews . . . These practicums don’t take the place of internships. They’re both valuable.”
Aaron Donovan worked at his undergraduate school paper in his native country, England, and for a number of small magazines before enrolling in the master’s program at NYU. Donovan’s eventual goal is to become a foreign correspondent. He was attracted by the hands-on digital skills offered by NYU’s hyperlocal program. Previously, he also interned at the London Times and at the Birmingham Post. Donovan notes that traditional internships in England commonly last just three to four weeks and that his experiences there were limited mostly to observing: “There was less opportunity at the Times. They were a lot busier, and they had less time for their interns.”
Wenger notes the numerous tensions that often occur as newcomers seek access to established communities of practice. In many instances, newcomers must wage a campaign to gain the interest and acknowledgment of community elders. Established members have their own deadlines to meet and budgets to maintain. Student interns learn very quickly that media organizations are businesses. Consequently, training interns is not their first priority.
Managing Commitments
Media careers have never been nine-to-five endeavors. Those who choose the profession have always had to juggle work, family, and social obligations. Students participating in a digtial era practicum can add a third factor to the equation—one’s additional class load.
Journalism students at Berkeley enjoy the immersive nature of having their practicum be their sole class during their first semester of study. However, those who choose to continue with the hyperlocal program quickly confront the challenge of managing the added workload. Marshall noted:
It’s hard to be operating on one hand as a reporter and to be operating on the other hand as a student. Maybe the person you need to interview can only meet at a time you’re supposed to be in class. Just finding the time to do the reporting can be challenging for sure.
The pressure extends to faculty, who are accountable for managing students’ activities outside the confines of the traditional classroom. Responsibilities can also include finding funding. While attempts are being made to sell advertising, hyperlocal programs are largely dependent on department funding and limited grants. Chavez estimates that it costs between $150,000 and $200,000 in expenses annually to operate her program. Funds cover mostly office space, equipment, and supplies. Students receive a small stipend over summer months, holidays, and breaks.
The Payoff
For students, the value of having their work published helps to reconcile the demanding workload. Lave and Wenger’s theories stress that gaining access to a community of practice is often contingent on receiving the validation of community elders. Newcomers’ work samples serve not only to demonstrate their competencies but also to set them apart from other likely candidates. Having work published also brings another layer of authenticity to the practicum experience—making it more than a pedagogical exercise. Students experience “legitimacy,” and their “practice” becomes real.
Practical Experience versus Free Labor
The merits of engaging students in practicum courses appear obvious. Students gain practical experience under faculty guidance while building their portfolios with high-quality work that is often published or broadcast to a broader audience. Media company partners provide an outlet for featuring student work and benefit by adding a new stream of free content to their commercial enterprise. This second fact raises questions about whether students should be paid and if their contributions displace workers.
As a Berkeley journalism student, Marshall finds the practice of providing free labor to strengthen her portfolio problematic:
It is hard that there is this expectation that those of us just starting out are going to work for free and are providing content for big newspapers that are in bad financial states. It’s hard to think next year, I want a job. But so much of the work that was being done ten years ago is now being done by people who aren’t getting paid.
Jones does not see his NYU students as a threat to seasoned journalists or their jobs. He believes that accomplished journalists would rather handle higher profile assignments and leave the hyperlocal work for entry-level students. Haro, at Berkeley, believes her cohort is reporting stories that would otherwise go uncovered by major news organizations. Jones acknowledges that the Times saw academic partnerships as a preferable option for reducing the costs associated with hyperlocal coverage.
Paying interns and practicum students for their contributions would seem to be a viable solution. NYU, like Berkeley, provides students with stipends to keep their site fresh and active during summers, breaks, and holidays. Outside of those exceptions, students are compensated by the experience and graduating with a stronger portfolio. However, not every student can afford to work for free.
Professor Dan Morrison, at the University of Oregon, recalls that he did not have that luxury back when he was an undergraduate: “I was working my way through college, and I simply could not afford to take an unpaid internship. I had no family support, and I didn’t want to be deeply in debt when I graduated.”
While Morrison acknowledges the greater benefits of newer practicums, he also fears that they may be contributing to the problem of displacing paid professionals:
It’s free. You’re producing work that is professional quality, and you’re giving it away for free. I’ve been a freelancer my whole life. I never had a staff job, and I have a stronger aversion to giving away work.
Professor Lydia Chavez at Berkeley disagrees: “I don’t think students should be getting paid while they are getting trained—because the training that they’re getting is amazing. I think it is phenomenal that media has opened up like this.”
All three professors agree that the idea that large corporations are somehow profiting on the backs of students and exploiting their labor is misrepresentative. Jones at NYU noted the he has no shame in admitting that The Local is not profitable. He stressed that NYU’s core mission is education. The hyperlocal partnerships serve primarily as a teaching tool. Jones asserted: “Students enjoy the added benefit of having their byline appear on NYTimes.com , which has tremendous benefits later down the line . . . You can’t put a price tag on the value of that.”
Julie Newton, interim dean at the SOJC concurs, “Our students absolutely need to do real journalism, and that means linking with partners and getting their work out there to real audiences.”
However, alliances between corporate media and journalism schools can be tenuous. In June 2012, the New York Times announced an end to its affiliation with The Local East Village, after a two-and-a-half-year run. However, New York magazine has stepped in as a new partner. Professor Brooke Kroeger, an NYU administrator and the current liaison for the program, is upbeat about the future of the publication: “Our financial future is sound, and our web traffic has actually increased since the New York Times made its announcement.”
NYU allows The Local to retain the lion share of revenues from a summer journalism institute that attracts paid college and high school students. Kroeger also foresees more experimentation with advertising under the new partnership.
Learning as Social
The premise of Lave and Wenger’s communities of practice theoretical construct is the notion of learning as social. Members establish shared histories and identities. Learning together changes who people are and who they become. Wenger observes that communities developed shared repertoires, which include “words, tools, ways of doing things, stories, gestures, symbols, genres, actions, or concepts.”
Haro commented on the importance of the social aspect:
It’s like family. It’s this team of seventeen reporters, all in the same newsroom making phone calls together. You get to know people really well. And you just start hitting it off. Haro noted that the group dynamics proved to be more collaborative and less competitive than she had anticipated. The hyperlocal experience facilitated lasting relationships among her cohort: “There are these terms that go around the j-school, like your “j-spouse” . . . You end up being partners in crime.
Wenger addresses the process of alignment that occurs among community members. This process transcends time and space and creates and facilitates a personal bond between students. They share a commitment to a purpose that is larger than their individual concerns.
Kroeger stated that recent changes at The Local East Village reflect the importance of creating immersive experiences for students: “We’ve abandoned the traditional course structure in favor of having students commit two entire days each week to staffing the publication.”
This pedagogical practice is consistent with the “teaching hospital” model advocated by Eric Newton at the Knight Foundation and adopted at the Cronkite School at Arizona State University.
Newcomers Alter Communities
While newcomers strive to earn the acceptance of elders, their influence on the practice can be substantial. Wenger stresses that elders and newcomers engage in an ongoing process of negotiating meaning, which, in turn, serves to define the future of the community and its practices. Consequently, issues of power come into play. Newcomers bring fresh ideas and may also question the efficacy of established practices. Elders are inclined to resist their opinions. An example is the continuing debate about the decline of print journalism. Many established practitioners fear that online journalism comes with costs, while many newcomers view the shift quite differently.
Donovan thinks there is more pessimism about the future of the profession among older journalists:
I think there is an emotional attachment to some of the forms of journalism. I think there’s a new way of working—but that new way isn’t so scary to me. I’ve grown up with these platforms (Facebook, Twitter) and ways of communicating with people.
Jones noted that many newcomers who come through his courses place less value on objective reporting. They have been influenced by Jon Stewart’s approach to news, which Jones does not believe is appropriate when reporting hard news: “The balancing act for us is to help them nurture their natural talent that they bring and incorporate that ‘Jon Stewart-ness’ into this umbrella of real high professional standards.”
Wenger argues that identities with communities of practice are in many ways shaped through these negotiations. He stresses further that this interplay is essential to the community’s healthy evolution. Identities are fundamentally temporal. Elders and newcomers are on trajectories, which may converge and diverge. Wenger’s use of the term suggests, “not a path that can be foreseen or charted but a continuous motion—one that has a momentum of its own in addition to a field of influences.” Wenger further asserts that the process is dynamic and outcomes are always unfolding.
Recommendations
As these three programs illustrate, the boundaries between students and professionals are blurring—and with significant benefits for both. Overall, the participants claim that digital era practicums are a valuable addition to a repertoire of opportunities designed to provide students with practical experience. Digital era practicums complement traditional internships by offering students a laboratory to practice what they may have only peripherally observed. A bonus for students is the opportunity to have their work published.
Having seasoned journalists, such as Chavez, Jones, Kroeger, and Morrison, at the helm of digital era practicums appears to be a key factor in their success. There is a growing argument that programs excel when their course leaders are well grounded in both theory and practice. Deans and search committee members have observed, anecdotally, that finding candidates with dual skill-sets is not an easy task. The instructors must also have editorial and management skills. Small and rural colleges are likely to experience difficulties recruiting such talent.
While interns and practicum participants provide free services or receive minimal pay, in turn, they gain access to elders within a community of practice and the chance to have their work published professionally. The consensus is that it is a fair trade. However, scholars and practitioners must keep a critical eye on these programs to ensure that education does not lapse into exploitation.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.