Dabbling in different media

It just hit me: Six weeks! Has six weeks of my internship for The Press-Enterprise already passed? In such a short time, I've already had so many experiences with this Inland Empire paper -- meeting reporters of all skill levels, writing stories on a variety of topics, contributing briefs and even shooting and editing video for the Web.

That I would be doing so many different things was not shared with me until my first day on the job. I remember walking into the office, fully expecting to do general-assignment reporting for the paper ... and that's it. That's when one of my many editors (There are seven bureaus and more editors than I even know.) told me that I'd be doing rotations in a few of the offices and spending four weeks on print, four weeks on Web print and four weeks of video shooting/editing. (Very cool!)

I've been eager and willing -- and have ended up going wherever I'm needed. My first week was spent not only writing but shooting and editing video, much to my editor's surprise and delight. Luckily, I was forced to learn print, online and broadcast at USC, so working a camera, thinking about visuals and editing aren't that foreign to me, and training me didn't take them long at all.

I have since finished the regular print leg of my internship and started the multimedia portion.

I'm so grateful for this experience. I've been given an amazing opportunity, and I'm thrilled that I'm adding to my knowledge, experience and skills by dabbling in different media. This will make me a better reporter, as I learn to tell stories through writing and visuals. Having these skills will make me a better candidate for jobs at newspapers that are eager to build on their multimedia offerings.

-- Joyce Tse, University of Southern California, The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Calif.