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Black College Wire Prepares Interns For Media Careers

Photo credit: K. Cummings/the Meter Fifteen student journalists, shown here with faculty members at the Black College Wire's annual summer journalism institute at the Freedom Forum in Nashville, began reporting as Black College Wire interns on June 5, working at black-owned print, radio and online publications.

Black College Wire Prepares Interns For Media Careers

CONTACTS:
Pearl Stewart, founder, Black College Wire, 850-264-4407
Jean Thompson, internship coordinator, 646-638-2032

For Immediate Release

June 12, 2006

WASHINGTON -- 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 Web site of THE BLACK COLLEGIAN magazine. 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.

Photo credit: K. Cummings/the Meter John Marsh reads a series by Nashville Tennessean reporter Ailene Torres, who spoke at the training sessions.

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, 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

Posted June 19, 2006