Enterprise Reporting
The biggest project I underwent at USA TODAY was taking on a fully-fleshed-out article from start to finish, full with in-depth interviews and document analysis.
Too bad it never saw the light of day.
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Zach C. Cohen
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Zach C. Cohen
Goodbye…not really
Today was the last formal day of my internship. Meaning, it’s the last day for a while that I’ll get up at the crack of dawn and drive to McLean, Va. to produce articles for USA TODAY Tech online.
It was probably a good time to end. Most of the interns have left; I only stayed to work on some unfinished business. But I’ve been pulling overtime the past few weeks between everything I needed (read: wanted) to do, and I’ll be happy to get a bit of a break before the school year starts again.
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Zach C. Cohen
I have a lot to learn
Sometimes it’s healthy to get taken down a peg or two. Every once in a while, it’s good to remember that you’re not perfect.
I had one of those moments recently.
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Zach C. Cohen
You’re hired
Sometimes, internships do lead directly into a job. I just didn’t think it would happen this quickly.
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Zach C. Cohen
Suit Up!
When I get home from my internship, the first thing I do is kick off my shoes, change out of my suit and tie, and watch How I Met Your Mother (I’ve watched six seasons so far this summer. Hey, a guy’s gotta enjoy his time off).
Barney Stinson of HIMYM (as it will henceforth be called) is kind of a role model for me right now. No, not for his womanizing ways, but there’s something to be said for his mantra that life’s always better in a suit.
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Zach C. Cohen
Watching History
USA TODAY is currently undergoing a major transition. The McPaper announced David Callaway as its new editor-in-chief on July 10, and Larry Kramer was hired as president publisher just a few weeks ago. Those are the two top positions of one of the country’s biggest newspaper.
As interns, we got to see that relationship play out with staff and got the opportunity to sit down with both two founders of MarketWatch and captains of a national newspaper in a private meeting.
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Jennifer Carignan
What an exciting time to intern at USA Today, Zach! I’ll be curious to see how these changes play out at the newspaper and what impact that might have on you on a daily basis. This experience with a change in management will be great to talk about one day in an interview!
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Zach C. Cohen
Why Interns Blog
Last week was the launch of the USA TODAY Interns brand. Complete with Tumblr (or is it “tumblr”?) and Twitter accounts, this new initiative was actually started by a fellow AU intern, Chris Jasinski.
So, in essence I’ve had to jump headlong into the Tumbling and Instagramming universe. I’ll be posting there and here regular updates on my internship.
It’s a pretty cool project, actually. Not everybody takes the time to update others about their responsibilities as an intern. I suppose it’s fair to want avoid sounding arrogant. But let’s be honest, interns get to do some pretty amazing things. This week in the intern Tumblr, one USA TODAY intern talked about her experience reporting at the White House. That’s not bragging; it’s sharing your excitement for your work and showing your passion for what you’re doing.
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Jennifer Carignan
Zach, I love the idea of the Tumblr and Twitter accounts! One of the most challenging but important parts of the Career Center’s work is to find ways for interns to share their experiences with each other, as opposed to only hearing about student experiences from advisors. It looks like these tools are really productive ways to do this. I look forward to reading more!
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Zach C. Cohen
Like USA TODAY has recognized, we can create all the content we want, and it’ll be great. But in today’s day and age, it’s crucial to go to the consumer, not the other way around. Tumblr and Twitter are only the start of that process.
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Zach C. Cohen
Brand before the Individual
The hardest part of being journalist is enterprise: coming up with new story pitches, finding new ways to tell the same story, and overall being an innovator. It’s a skill I’ve had to work diligently at for a long time, and I still think I have ways to improve.
I don’t know what changed this week, but I had three different ideas for stories that I really thought were important, newsworthy topics I could dive into and get excited about. But, like I suspected, I didn’t get a chance to dive into them this week. It was a particularly heavy week, and whenever I got the chance to propose an article, I had to put it off to next week. With Charlie on furlough, I was on double-duty. It was pretty much a full-time job, and, frankly, we didn’t even do everything we wanted to do for that week.
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Zach C. Cohen
Another busy week!
Last week was another busy few days at USA Today. My supervisor, Charlie, was surprised there was so much news to handle, but it’s fine with me. I’d much rather be kept busy rather than waste my time being bored. I figure that’s why I decided to go into journalism in the first place!
I’ve written a few more blog posts and even an article for the Tech site. But I’m hoping to move my byline to the print edition. I’m percolating a few ideas, but the key is finding an idea the editors will find important enough that hasn’t already been investigated. That’s even more difficult to achieve since I’m still learning the culture of USA Today and recognizing what news the editors are particularly looking for.
Julia Beyer is discussing. 
Jennifer Carignan is discussing. 
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Zach C. Cohen
Back to the 9-to-5
It’s been a long time since I’ve woken up at 6 a.m. on a regular basis.
But rather than taking my summer to take a break, I’ve again taken on an internship.
I’m working three days a week at USA Today’s (absolutely gorgeous) headquarters in McLean, Va. I work in the Tech section, mostly posting short articles about the most recent technology news, publishing copy from the Associated Press wire on our website, and posting our most recent articles on Twitter and Facebook.
Julia Beyer 5:44 pm on October 17, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks for sharing some of your realistic insights. I am linking to this in the SOC Spot newsletter.