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How paid interns can be part of a newsroom’s success

avatar by Published July 17, 2012 9:58 am Updated July 17, 2012 4:07 pm

In this week’s career chat, we talked with Jon Okerstrom, senior Internet director at Quincy Newspapers Inc. The Quincy news company offers paid internships, or “Quinternships” in journalism, communication, broadcasting and related fields. Such programs stand out at a time when unpaid internships are becoming increasingly common.

During the chat, Okerstrom talked about Quincy’s internship program and about how paying — and ultimately hiring — interns can be part of a company’s success strategy.

You can replay the chat here:

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  • http://profiles.google.com/wenalway Robert Knilands

    Good to see age discrimination in hiring is thriving! Check it out –

    “How do we get newsrooms to buy into the idea of hiring more young journalists to work again, even though newsrooms are fighting to stay alive?”

    “We all know that the next generation of MJs, producers, writers, photojournalists and engineers will determine whether we continue to be a very successful company. To not invest in identifying, coaching and then hopefully hiring those people is short-sighted in my view.”

    “Newsrooms that turn a cold shoulder to college interns will find they have diminished their hiring pool for later. Arrogance is not forgotten.”

    I wonder what Illinois would think about this stated preference to hire young? It’d be interesting to find out, especially based on the numerous examples of bad writing (“new york”) in the chat. I know, I know — “It’s not being published; it’s just a chat; I don’t REALLY write that way; (fill in excuse here) …”