Lesson in Hard Knocks   

Economy has newspapers cutting back on interns

Call it a bracing lesson in newspaper life. Student journalists, watching the flush job market that awaited their predecessors disappear, have been getting unnerving news: Newspapers that normally offer some of the most sought-after paid internships are cutting the programs this year.

Among those applying the ax are the San Francisco Chronicle, Portland's Oregonian, USA Today and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, none of which will offer paid internships this summer. The Baltimore Sun, Long Island's Newsday, Cleveland's Plain Dealer and the Palm Beach Post say their programs will be scaled back. Unpaid spots for academic credit or those funded by a scholarship aren't affected.

The total number of lost positions at these papers alone is between 80 and 90; on average, cutting one position saves about $6,100. Major metropolitan dailies pay summer interns between $500 and $600 a week for 10 to 12 weeks, though the Plain Dealer paid $671 last summer. Benefits are usually not included.

Critics say these newspapers are shooting themselves, and the industry, in the foot. But newspaper editors and recruiters say they'd rather sacrifice the intern program for a year than lay anybody off.

"We, like everyone, are having to respond to the economy," says Peter Bhatia, executive editor of the Oregonian, which normally hires 15 students each summer for its widely respected program.

"Our company has not and is not contemplating layoffs of any sort," Bhatia says. "We're a newspaper that has worked very hard to bring young people into the newsroom and into the business, and we will continue to do that. One year is one year, and that's the way that we're thinking about it."

Adds George Rede, the Oregonian's director of recruiting and training, "Obviously, any newsroom benefits from the energy and creativity that the students bring. It also provides extra bodies to simply do the work."

Vernon Smith, a recruiter for the Dallas Morning News for almost 10 years before becoming deputy international editor last year, calls the cuts shortsighted. "Internships are a small short-term investment that can really pay off for the industry," he says. "Your internship program offers you the opportunity to size up the bright young talent coming out of college at relatively little risk." The Morning News will have a full roster of about 17 interns this summer.

"It's just false economy," says Arlene Morgan, who started the Philadelphia Inquirer's two-year internship program and is now assistant to the dean at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Internships are "really invaluable for the profession," she says. Without them, she asks, "How do you ensure that you are going to have smart people come into your business?"

And for students, "getting those internships is just so important," says Patty Noland, career development coordinator at the University of Kansas. "Not just to build their résumé, [but] to let them test the water, let them know what it's like to work in a newsroom. You've got to know what it's like before you decide to do it for the rest of your life."

The cuts come as graduates scared of the job market had been banking on an internship to buy them more time to find something permanent, preferably at one of their top-choice papers. Lynn Kalber, director of administration/newsroom at the Palm Beach Post, which cancelled its intern program last year as well, says, "For kids coming out of school, they're frightened. They're going to have to get used to the idea that they're going to have to go to smaller papers for a while."

A few years ago, journalism graduates from Columbia "could go to a fairly large paper or consumer magazine and stay in the New York area," says Melanie Huff, the school's career services coordinator. Now, she tells them, "You need to get out there and pay your dues and cut your teeth. There are some small dailies that are hiring."

And more than a few are hiring interns. Karen Catone, director of the Chips Quinn Scholars Program for minority students at the Freedom Forum, says she's placing 75 students in paid summer programs. More than a third of these papers have a circulation under 50,000. Though some are taking fewer interns than usual, she says, "I have a waiting list of newsrooms that are still interested in participating."

Though career advisers at several journalism schools say they haven't heard yet of a student not finding an internship, the bar is definitely higher at larger papers that haven't cut back on interns. Jeff Rivers, associate editor/recruitment and development at the Hartford Courant, says he got between 250 and 300 applications this year--up from a normal 100. He attributes the increase to word of the cutbacks, which a number of papers announced before the Courant's deadline.

Angela Tuck, newsroom recruiter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, says she's chosen more than twice the usual number of graduating seniors for summer 2002: 11, rather than four or five, out of 13 interns. Sue Smith, deputy managing editor for recruiting and development at the Dallas Morning News, also reports a high number of graduating seniors and graduate students among this summer's intern class. Which means juniors could be at a disadvantage this year.

All of the papers cutting internships decided early enough to give applicants a chance to find something else, unlike last year when USA Today interns found out in May that the program had been dropped--as it has been again this year.

However, an eager candidate for a 2002 Dow Jones copyediting internship at the Oregonian learned she'd landed one, only to be told hours later that the paper had suspended its program. "It was devastating," says Yvonne Ngai, a junior at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication. But the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund immediately offered her a position at the Tribune in San Luis Obispo, California. She grabbed it.

A willingness to go to a smaller paper or to accept an internship as something other than a metro reporter increases a student's chances for success, recruiters say. Beth Evans, a graduating senior at the University of Missouri, got a Dow Jones copyediting internship at Pennsylvania's Erie Times-News, circulation 56,100. She plans to enter a graduate journalism program in the fall and hopes the economy will recover while she's there.

Cutting internships could send a negative message to students about the health of the newspaper business and drive them onto other career paths, says Joe Grimm, recruiting and development editor at the Detroit Free Press and all-around internship guru. "Students go, 'Oh, man, what's going on?' " he says. He would tell them, "I think there's a lot to be concerned about. But it's not time to abandon ship. If you want to do this, hang in there."