A CNN Intern’s Testimonial
Starting last December, I began working on my resume with a family friend who works at CNN in New York City. Especially in the field of Media and Communication, the importance of connections is priceless. You’ll be surprised how far a few friendly emails can take you; that contact can be a genuine help in getting your name out there! She personally placed my resume on the desks of some of CNN’s top producers, which lead to interviews and my ultimate offer for a position as an intern with Showbiz Tonight, an entertainment news show that airs on CNN’s sister network, HLN.
The first day I set foot in the Time Warner building, I was naturally nervous. But the more days I worked, the more comfortable I became with the friendly staff and the intern jobs, which included printing scripts for the show’s anchor, greeting and briefing show guests, finding footage for the Production Assistants, logging and assisting with interviews, and helping the writers with research. Each day, I attended the morning meeting in which Dave Levine, Senior Executive Producer and head of CNN Entertainment, lead the staff in planning the day’s show, and I was encouraged to participate. Watching a show come together from scratch was amazing.
A few weeks into my internship, what began as a relatively normal day turned into an experience that I will never forget. When both Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson passed away on June 25, Showbiz aired live at 11 pm to keep up with the coverage. Although the other intern and I were told we didn’t need to stay, I had no intentions on leaving. I couldn’t help but stop to look around every once in a while and realize that I was here, at CNN, the day MJ died. And I helped report on it!
I also shadowed staff members in multiple departments, including the woman who helped me with my resume, in order to learn about each step of creating the show. When an employer encourages you to ask questions or ask to work with particular people whose jobs you are interested in, always go for it! In doing so, I not only got to know the staff members better and learn more specifics about writing, editing, and producing, but I was able to do more work myself. By the end of my internship, I had teleprompted for the show multiple times, edited my own voice-over video clips, gone to workshops with big CNN names like Soledad O’Brien and one of the head writers for Anderson Cooper: 360, and, finally, got to wave to an international audience during the taping of my last show.
Working towards a career in journalism, this internship was valuable in that it taught me a different type of journalism than I had ever worked in before, not to mention introduced me to some amazing people! I even returned to Showbiz this semester to do an interview assignment for one of my writing courses; after encouragement by all the staff members to keep in touch, I asked Dave Levine if he would be willing to do an interview and, despite his busy schedule, he agreed. It felt incredible to be sitting in the office of the head of CNN Entertainment, asking him questions about a picture of him with a pigtailed Britney Spears on the wall. From the day MJ passed away to the day I interviewed Dave Levine, this internship has helped to show me that I really am on the right track in my aspiring career path.