KEYE-TV Austin

Fall 2011

Position: Internet Intern
Student: Rhetoric & Writing Senior

I interned for the second time at KEYE TV news. Both semesters were very different. The first semester, the news station allows interns to experience every aspect of the newsroom. You get an in depth tour of how it all works. My second semester, I came back as the first, and only, web intern. My second semester at the news station was more valuable to me because as a Rhetoric major, I was able to write news stories daily.

Most days, I got to the station around 9:00. I would then be given about five to eight short stories to write for the 4:00p.m. show. These would be “Today in studio is [insert name]. They do this!” After finishing those, I would either stay in the newsroom and work on web assignments, or go out in the field.

When I went out in the field, I got to interview people, get images and video of stories, and write up news stories. These are the only stories I was credited for online. The reason is because they involved me doing the research, photography, writing, and editing all myself.

If I stayed in the newsroom, my day meant a lot more stories. I was usually given the task of finding three stories: weird news, state news and global/national news. After looking those up and writing them, I was given one story which involved calling people, researching the information and/or finding related stories on the subject. These usually took about one hour each.

By then end of each day at the newsroom, I had written at least ten stories. It gave me a lot for my resume, as well as a lot of practice in real world writing.

Spring 2011

Position: Broadcasting Intern
Student: Rhetoric & Writing Junior

KEYE TV is the CBS affiliate news station in Austin, TX. It is a part of Nexstar broadcasting system, which is one of the largest broadcasting companies in the United States. The internship program at KEYE TV is highly organized. The internship coordinator, Megan Janicke, is very helpful and is always ready to help interns understand the work they are doing.

The internship is at the news station, located in North Austin off of 183. The interns are all given a tour of the site, a nametag, and take a livetruck safety training course within the first week. During the first five week,s the interns go through a rotation working in Editing, Publishing, Reporting, Assignment Desk, and Web Publishing. At the end of the five weeks, the interns submit to the supervisor which area they wish to specialize in. The rest of the semester involved each intern working primarily in their selected area, along with assisting in the other areas when needed.

A Day in the Life of a KEYE TV intern starts at 2pm. The intern sits in on the production meetings, where they discuss the afternoon shows. After that, the intern either goes out with a reporter and photographer, where they are on assignment all day. If the intern is not with a reporter, they go straight to work writing news stories, as well as web scripts. The supervisor will edit each story, and give the intern feedback. After the 6pm show, the intern has one hour for dinner. After dinner, the intern goes right back to work until the 10pm show airs. After the show, the supervisor will either send the intern home, or ask them to do one last task. Interns leave between 10:30 and 11pm each day.