Washington
has unpredictable weather—but it’s even more moody on NPR’s
Science Desk. On any given morning, I might be digging into
volcanoes, floating around in the ozone layer, or sloshing
through rice fields in Asia.You could glance at a list of
the duties I share with my co-intern (the excellent Erin Marie
Williams), and it would put you to sleep: scanning the papers,
logging tape, research, administrative duties, etc. But I
never catch any winks since NPR’s health policy, medical,
geoscience and other reporters are constantly asking me to
help out with their stories. I log interviews with high-end
experts, develop story ideas for the desk, pitch in at meetings,
and even write the occasional news brief. Those are all fantastic
aspects of my job, but the best part? Hurling my questions
at some of the sharpest reporters in all of science news.
I’ve been learning about climate change, global health, earth
science, astronomy and more. I’ve even had the good luck to
apply a lot of my learning from school—subjects such as energy,
environment, and health—to the work I do here on the desk.
I’m often just a low-profile intern, but occasionally I get
to take on a little responsibility. I even called my mom for
help on a story! So NPR is now family business. Lastly, as
part of the desk’s “Climate Connections” series on climate
change, I’m playing a lead role in planning the content for
the series finale: a cluster of stories on the “Next Generation,”
the young people who will have to cope with this environmental
reality.
I
watch a lot of movies. Producers hand me DVDs and say, “Watch
this and find 30 seconds of sound we can use.” For once, I’m
not embarrassed to be watching Will Ferrell during work hours.
I spend my day finding and converting audio clips that will
make the show better. And also, you know, opening mail, getting
coffee, and researching stories: the usual intern stuff. Every
week I get to take part in the various story meetings. Staff
members pitch ideas, and those ideas are spitballed around
until they’re given the go-ahead. Then we add ambient sound,
music, interviews, and it’s a radio piece. Easy, right? Maybe
not. But so much fun. A weekend show is a great place to be
an intern – it only airs once a week, so there’s a lot of
time to make the show perfect, and the staff has time to answer
questions when I have them. And I always have them.
I
never know what to expect walking into Talk of the Nation
on any given morning. Some days, guests are scheduled to appear
after being booked for months. Other days, the staff has to
sift through the headlines, figure out who people are talking
about and how to make it into a show—all in a few short hours.
Some might consider this chaos, but once getting used to it,
things fall into place, the intriguing guests are located,
and suddenly, we have a show. Over the past few weeks, I have
come from fearing the system to loving the system.
Every day we gather at 9:00 a.m. to discuss stories, the day’s
show, and who’s chasing whom. I usually write ideas on the
board but was recently let go because of my Dr. Jekyll handwriting.
So now I sit around saying, “Ooh, that’s interesting,” while
plowing through the New York Times, the Washington
Post, the Wall Street Journal, Slate,
and Salon, so I know what people are talking about.
Once the morning meeting is over, I move back to my desk and
start calling people, from journalists, professors, and former
deputy attorney generals (politeness is key), to guests who
went missing (if you think you need an escort, you definitely
need one), and Sean Penn.
Between the hours of 1:30-4:00 p.m., I am power-walking the
third-floor hallways. I bring scripts to the host, producer,
and director; collect guests; compile last minute fact sheets—it
may sound very glamorous, but it’s just another day at Talk
of the Nation. The highlight of my day, though, is pre-interviewing
guests and putting together question lines. Everything may
be edited multiple times or cut completely from a show, but
all the while I am learning what makes good radio and eventually,
will make great radio. Or at the very least, I am now a more
news-savvy person.
Here in Digital Media, we're responsible for posting all of the on-air radio content to the website, npr.org. Every segment of every show gets its own page, and we like to liven up bland text and the little red "listen" button with images, extra audio, graphics, expanded text, audio slideshows and videos. If working in online production has taught me anything, it's that Web sites don't build themselves. Every link, every image, every word has some form of human input-whether it's an image enlargement or a link to a relevant NPR story. While working for npr.org, I've been able to work on some really cool projects from across a wide range of subjects. From movie reviews to book roundups, I've been able to learn a little bit about subjects I don't have much experience or expertise in, and that's really cool. I've also been able to produce audio and photo slideshows as web extras for stories heard on the air. I put together an audio slideshow about how American troops are evacuated from the battlefield and I assembled a photo gallery that tells the story of a melting ice sheet in Greenland. Overall, I've come to appreciate all the hard work and coordination that goes in to making NPR's Web site look great and function smoothly.
Established
in 1971 and now one of NPR’s flagship programs, All Things
Considered is a two-hour news magazine that presents
a mix of hard news, commentaries, interviews, and feature
stories. The topics presented on each show range widely: from
science to art, music to hard-hitting news, sports to the
environment. The show, which boasts an office with a fantastic,
north-facing view of Washington, D.C., has a staff of about
30 people. This includes hosts, producers, editors, engineers,
support staff, and interns. I
have several responsibilities. After attending the morning
editorial meeting, where everyone is expected to pitch story
ideas, we focus on booking interviews. This process
entails identifying potential interviewees, tracking them
down, pre-interviewing them, and then coordinating the host
interview. We are also asked to conduct research for
daily stories and long-term projects. This involves
gathering background information, either via the internet
or by phone, and presenting it to the hosts and producers.
Additionally, we are asked to locate audio, whether
archived or on the internet, of press conferences, speeches,
events, or past stories. Finally, the last two hours
of each day are spent printing and running scripts to the
hosts during the show. We
learn a lot. We appreciate Robert’s taste in opera.
Melissa bakes a mean cake. And sometimes we get
free food.
Day
to Day is a midday newsmagazine that starts mobilizing
daily before the sun comes up. After grabbing a good view
of the stars above West Los Angeles, I charge into NPR West’s
modern, warehouse-like building at 6:00 a.m. A delicious cup
of Peet’s coffee from our sweet kitchen accompanies me to
my desk, where I will spend the next three hours assembling
the DACS—a rundown of the stories that will be on the day’s
show, which go out to Program Directors and member stations
everywhere. The time flies as I learn the challenges of good
editing; the information often changes quickly right up to
the start of the show. From there, my adrenaline rush picks
up a notch while I spend the hour of the live show running
scripts from our desks to the studio.
We all get to catch our breath at 10:00 a.m. and fill our
rumbling stomachs before the noon editorial meeting. This
has to be the best part of the job. It’s a privilege
to actually be there and hear a dozen really smart people
churn over the news and discuss the ethics and challenges
of first-rate coverage. It’s also good for a lot of
laughs. In the afternoon I help “chase” or “book”—a
sometimes frustrating, usually illuminating, and intermittently
successful effort to get “good talkers” for our hosts to interview.
Whether I’m reading newswires, hunting for an Iranian
college student, or pre-interviewing potential guests, I’m
learning constantly. And then there are those hours
I spend hunting down clips of famous movie lines on YouTube!
When three o’clock rolls around and the day is over, I head
home feeling grateful that I’ve got the best commuting hours
an Angeleno could ask for.
As
the sole intern for NPR West's Morning Edition, I
am the go-to guy for anything on Morning Edition’s
Pacific side. Because much of the production happens
in Washington, my primary duty is to research for future Morning
Edition stories and interviews conducted by LA-based
co-host Renee Montagne. On a typical day, I arrive at
work, bright and early at 6:00 a.m., attend the Morning
Edition board meeting with DC, grab a cup of coffee,
and then get comfortable at the computer to scour the depths
of the internet for information. In researching, my
first resource is the NPR transcript database; it’s always
good to know if NPR has already reported on a given topic.
Next, I turn to internet libraries, like Proquest Platinum,
to find recent news on a subject from sources like the
New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and
the Los Angeles Times. After that, I look to
various online versions of magazines like the New Yorker,
the Economist, and Vanity Fair. Given
the amount of useless information on the internet, it is central
for me to discern which information is salient and which is
simply garbage. I generally stay away from Wikipedia
and any URL ending in “.blogspot.com,” for example. The
most interesting work I’ve done so far has been interview-related.
I’ve conducted research for fun interviews (Steve Martin,
Jerry Seinfeld) to rather serious discussions (Bernard Kouchner,
Ken Burns, General James Dubik). Beyond research, I fill my
day with other intern-ly duties, like clearing the studio
each day at 9:00 a.m. and distributing the mail.
As
a corporate communications intern, I conduct research; write
biographical profiles of NPR on-air personalities, board members,
and senior managers for posting on npr.org; assist with the
planning and implementation of staff events and corporate
gatherings; coordinate the posting of employee communications
throughout NPR facilities; assist with content and basic web
work for NPR's Intranet; and offer clerical support to unit
staff. I am an active member of a two-person unit that
handles all of NPR's internal communications.
The
title “Arts and Information Desk” can be confusing. Until
recently, the Arts Desk was its own entity, similar to that
of the Science Desk and Foreign Desk. But now it acts
as a part of the National Desk, though it certainly still
retains its own reporters and artistic identity. The
beats included in Arts and Information are music, publishing
and books, film, museums, media, television, visual arts,
theatre, and pop culture. The Arts Desk reporters are spread
throughout the NPR Bureaus, namely headquarters, West, and
New York. Arts reporters submit stories to all shows,
but generally most pieces are aired on Morning Edition
and All Things Considered. Though a small unit, the
Arts Desk is quite busy. In terms of general intern
duties, most reporters ask me for assistance in putting stories
together. This means that I work on Dalet every day
pulling audio clips from CDs, speeches, DVDs, and other web
sources, and then dub these clips onto Dalet. I also
research and collect background information, review copies
of materials sent by publishers, log interviews, book studio
time for interviews, update obit files, update film releases
for NPR’s Wiki, and conduct pre-interviews. As a result of
my duties, I know how to recognize and edit the most fitting
audio material. I’m also learning more about the role
of publicity and marketing within publishing, museum exhibitions,
and film releases. I’m now aware of how to build a good
story for radio—how to recognize trends, decide what is newsworthy,
relate the arts to other “hard news” stories, and craft a
really interesting story out of something that’s not initially
appealing.
NPR’s
music collection consists of over 21,000 CDs and LPs. While
all of the roughly 4,500 LPs have been cataloged in our Music
Database, only about 5,000 CDs we own have been cataloged
so far. Therefore, my main activity as the Music Library
intern this semester is cataloging commercial music CDs in
the database. It’s a rather time consuming endeavor
because of the degree of specificity that’s involved.
The information I register includes the personnel on each
song and the instruments they play; the composers of each
song; the licensing information; the duration of each track;
whether the song is instrumental or vocal, live or in-studio;
the dates of recording; and the geographic subject headings
and more general subject headings. Each piece of information
is necessary to monitor because they are all potential access
points for searching within the database. But since
there are a large number of CDs not cataloged yet, it never
hurts to browse the shelves to find what you’re looking for,
or have me or Robert Goldstein (the Music Librarian) help
you look. This brings me to the other significant portion
of my position: fielding users’ reference questions in their
search for the right song for a program. The Music Library
is a resource utilized by many of the production directors
of various programs here in DC and in our bureaus in LA and
New York. Some of the more memorable requests I’ve received
include: “I need some good runway-type music, what do you
recommend?”; “I need some songs about satellites or outer
space or Russia for a story on the anniversary of Sputnik
we’re doing”; or “Do we have any songs about the International
Ladies Garment Workers Union?” (Yes, we do). I find
the reference portion of the job to be the most rewarding
and challenging aspect. I’d say it has also definitely
provided good experience on the kinds of questions a librarian
should ask of their users during what’s known as the “reference
interview,” so we can help them best.
At
Tell Me More, I feel like a real part of the team.
As an intern, I have a lot of responsibilities. In
the morning, the first thing I do is run scripts to the director,
line producer, and host. After my morning workout, I
usually catch up on whatever I’ve missed during the previous
show since I come in every other day. We have our editorial
meeting around 11:00 a.m. During the meeting, I try
to pitch story ideas as well as provide suggestions or support
for other ideas that are in the works. Then, I follow
up on those ideas or assist another staff member with research,
writing the script, or whatever is necessary. These
tasks usually keep me busy until early evening (five or six).
I love this internship because I work with great people
who are all incredibly intelligent and extremely unique. Watching
Michel Martin on a day-to-day basis is like going to a journalism
graduate program for free. This experience has been
invaluable in giving me a sense of direction for my future
career.
National
Public Radio is primarily a programming unit but includes
another part too: the Human Resources department. In
this department there are three parts: Labor Relations, which
makes sure there’s fair game for every employee; Payroll,
which deals with the process of employee salaries; and Staffing,
which screens appropriate applications and resumes for job
vacancies. I work in the Staffing department where I
assist with career job fairs, prescreen resumes for job vacancies,
respond to internship inquires and fulfill other required
or miscellaneous duties.
“If
you want to BE a journalist, ACT like a journalist, BE the
journalist…”
My mother always told me that the first step toward success
is to imagine myself becoming or being my
fully-evolved, career woman self. I am admittedly still
journeying toward a definitive career and established living
situation. But I find that my “mantra” can help my half-evolved,
lowly intern self to step up when circumstances demand fast
action. A few days ago, with no forewarning and little
preparation (a brief minidisk instruction session), Elliot
and I were hurriedly sent off to record tape from a press
conference at the Capitol. A quick taxi ride, and we
were face-to-face with two very muscular and able security
guards at the press entrance who told us repeatedly that no,
absolutely NO, press passes were being issued that day.
The Dalai Lama was in residence and security demanded tighter
regulations. Now my mantra said, “Great… your first
great task as a potential NPR employee and you can’t even
get past the door.” I felt like a groupie dying to have
just one word with my favorite musician, Nikki Sixx status.
Elliot made some calls. I kept asking my security friends
if there was anything we could do, anyone we could speak to.
The task at hand was too important to simply walk away with
our tails between our legs. Ten minutes of waiting aimlessly
outside of the entrance and a press liaison came to our rescue.
We scuffled upstairs, plugged the recorder into the Mult box,
and stood as journalists among actual journalists during the
30-minute event. I’m well on my way to that press pass.
If
the early bird gets the worm, the previous day’s worm has
been devoured and fully digested by the time I get to the
Morning Edition office at 7:30 a.m. There always
seems to be someone starting or finishing work, or making
coffee at any hour of the day. When I arrive I try not
to antagonize people just finishing the overnight by looking
too chipper after a semi-full night’s sleep. After several
cups of coffee I pop on a pair of headphones to listen to
the show while I read through the day’s newspapers (starting
with the Washington Post) and blogs to figure out
what’s going on in the world, before the 9:00 a.m. editorial
meeting. During the meeting, NPR West is plugged in
via videoconference and the day’s news is discussed and stories
assigned. Frequently, I spend lots of time googling
people, places and idle story ideas that come and go, to see
if there’s any validity to a certain hunch or if the story
idea has already been covered by NPR or others. When
not googling indiscriminately I often get tasked with tracking
down guests (which sometimes involves google) and helping
book and pre-interview potential interviewees. Never
a dull moment.
There’s
a lot going on at All Things Considered. With
that in mind, contributing as much as I can as an intern is
the order of each day. Things usually begin with looking
for story ideas in the morning. Most of the time that
means looking for “fun” ideas—we always seem to be a little
short on those. Once the agenda is set for the day,
the intern’s job gets murkier. Sometimes I call to arrange
interviews, other times I research stories, and occasionally
I get to hunt down sound to make a certain piece more interesting.
Then the glamorous existence of an NPR intern really
sets in with running scripts during the show. But at
All Things Considered, much like life itself, it’s
all about the details. From working one day on the heavy
topic of domestic spying, to following up on the plight of
the red squirrel in England, there’s never a shortage of new
and interesting things to think about.
The
Science Desk covers science news for all NPR programs.
That includes new research and discoveries, as well as investigations
relating to general science, technology, medicine, public
policy, and all things related to climate change. From
what I’ve observed, the structure of the desk is rather fluid,
perhaps even amorphous. It includes a number of reporters,
producers, and support staff working in off-site bureaus,
everyone coming and going all of the time and covering one
another’s positions. So it’s hard to say exactly how
many people are covering the world’s science news for NPR
at any given time or where one job ends and another begins.
People talk fast and throw around ideas and witticisms much
faster than I’m used to, considering that I study the long,
slow process of human evolution. Regardless, they all
have a lot going on each day, be it finding a source or expert
to provide commentary, transcribing tape, or researching a
theory or new discovery. My job is to step in and help
out wherever and however I can. My most enjoyable task is
research. Someone will ask me something like “how and
why do volcanoes effect climate?” and suddenly I get to spend
my time reading research on something I know very little about.
I create what are essentially miniature Cliff Notes
on the topic of the day. Some of my favorite projects
have included researching the effects of the 1815 Tambora
eruption, the relationship between wine quality and climate
and soils (or as the French say, terroir), and how
archaeologists recognize modern behavior in the archaeological
record. Sadly, between research projects, I have to log tape
for busy reporters and producers. Lots and lots of tape—so
much tape that I leave the desk with an imprint of headphones
around my ears. Most importantly, I get to observe and participate
in the process of turning world events into news that is both
informative and manageable.
The
National Desk is NPR’s largest editorial desk with reporters
not only in Washington but across the country. My primary
responsibility is to assist reporters, whether they’re here
in the building or in Dallas, Texas. On a day-to-day
basis, my work consists of dubbing audio into Dalet, logging
interviews, retrieving archival tape, contributing to web-based
news research projects, or helping reporters with research.
The best part of my job is undoubtedly the opportunity
to work with and learn from many of the most talented reporters
in the field.
