Black College Wire Prepares Interns for Media Careers

On her first working day as a newspaper reporter, Tiesha Henderson took an assignment that looked easy and heartwarming: Go talk to a Dallas charity about its upcoming fund-raiser.

"I thought it would be a quick little good-feeling human interest story," Henderson said, catching her breath between calls to the Internal Revenue Service and scholarship winners. "My first story is turning into a huge lesson in journalism."

The Dallas Examiner summer intern had discovered a story behind the story: Despite its good works, the charity might not be legally incorporated and its fund-raising might not be tax deductible.

Henderson found her story by checking public records, as she had been urged to do during her just-completed training at the Black College Wire's annual summer journalism institute. She is one of 15 student journalists who began reporting June 5 for black-owned print, radio and online publications as Black College Wire interns.

"With generous grant support, we continue to prepare students for careers in media," said Pearl Stewart, Black College Wire founder and coordinator. "Now, with our online and radio partnerships, we are able to expose students to a wider range of career options."

In a new partnership for Black College Wire, one summer intern will write and edit for IMDiversity.com, THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine, and THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online. In another new partnership, one intern will write and record original articles for PopandPolitics.com, the Web site of author and National Public Radio commentator Farai Chideya.

Two will report and write for Black College Wire, a nonprofit news service linking the newspapers of the historically black colleges and universities.

Others will report, edit, design or take photographs for black-owned newspapers including the Dallas Examiner, the New Pittsburgh Courier and the Atlanta Daily World.

During the first week on the job, many found themselves in the thick of breaking news.
Armed with his notebook and camera, W. Hassan Marsh of Morehouse College covered a union demonstration for a same-day deadline at the Atlanta Voice. The newspaper published his report and one of his pictures on its Web site.

Intern Shana Pinnock, a Spelman College student writing for the New York Amsterdam News, covered a controversy about cutbacks in New York City's homeland security funding. She tracked down law enforcement officials to get comments.

"I think the hardest thing so far is getting call-backs from sources," Pinnock said. "You have to be persistent and keep calling. When I couldn't get the commissioner on the phone, then I started calling the deputy commissioner."

The interns began their summer with training May 31-June 4 at the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. There, the interns received instruction in the fundamentals of interviewing, research and newswriting. They attended courses on digital photography and digital recording, to prepare to be all-around journalists.

Guest lecturers included John Seigenthaler, founder, and Gene Policinski, executive director, of the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center; Dwight Lewis, columnist, and Christian Bottorff and Ailene Torres, reporters, at the Tennessean. The students also toured African American historic sites in Nashville and quizzed community leaders as part of their training for covering communities for the black press.

Black College Wire's summer internship program is possible thanks to grants from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Black College Wire, www.blackcollegewire.org, showcases the work of student journalists at the historically black colleges and covers issues of interest to readers on those campuses. The news service has supplied articles to collegiate newspapers, the nation's black press, and many other newspapers, Web sites and news services including AOL Black Voices, the Miami Herald, Dow Jones College Journal, BlackAmericaWeb.com, and KRT Campus. Through recent partnerships with THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine, its student writers have covered Hurricane Katrina's effect on Gulf region colleges.

Black College Wire is a project of the Black College Communication Association, which supports the development and improvement of journalism education at historically black colleges. Partners include the National Association of Black Journalists and the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education.

The 2006 summer interns are:

Carla Aaron-Lopez
North Carolina Central University
Internship: New Pittsburgh Courier
Hometown: Charlotte, N.C.

Anthony Anamelechi
Florida A&M University
Internship: Black College Wire
Hometown: Washington, D.C.

Drew C. Costley
Howard University
Internship: The Washington Informer
Hometown: Arlington, Va.

Ashley R. Harris
University of Houston
Internship: Houston Defender
Hometown: Missouri City, Texas

Tiesha Henderson
Hampton University
Internship: The Dallas Examiner
Hometown: Dallas

Ashley Hindsman
Albany State University
Internship: The Atlanta Daily World
Hometown: College Park, Ga.

Ebonie Ledbetter
Florida A&M University
Internship: Capital Outlook (Tallahassee, Fla.)
Hometown: Fairburn, Ga.

Shauntel Lowe
University of California at Los Angeles
Internship: Black College Wire
Hometown: San Diego, Calif.

John W. Marsh
Florida A&M University
Internship: The Michigan Chronicle
Hometown: Detroit

W. Hassan Marsh
Morehouse College
Internship: The Atlanta Voice
Hometown: Atlanta

Vanessa Mizell
Howard University
Internship: PopandPolitics.com
Hometown: Irvine, Calif.

Shana Pinnock
Spelman College
Internship: New York Amsterdam News
Hometown: Bronx, N.Y.

Alexia R. Robinson
Florida A&M University
Internship: IMDiversity.com/THE BLACK COLLEGIAN
Hometown: Jacksonville, Fla.

Ciara Walker
University of Mississippi
Internship: Mississippi Link
Hometown: Oxford, Miss.

Melaney Whiting
Tennessee State University
Internship: Dallas Weekly
Hometown: Dallas