Last Updated: May 20, 1999
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Reaching student
journalists
Home-grown internship program helps medium-sized metro
get, retain minority staffers
About five years ago, the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News found its own solution
to minority newsroom “churn” and lackluster recruitment of minority students
at journalism schools.
Here’s what we did: We decided to recruit young people from our own
community, win them over to our profession, serve as their mentors, and
work with them from high school through college and onto the newsroom staff
of the Daily News. In the process, the Daily News converted its traditional
internship program into one focused exclusively on local young talent.
The Daily News’ Minority Intern and Mentor Program recruits from local
high schools and area colleges, although the ideal candidates are minority
youths in the 14-16 year-old range. Since the program’s inception, more
than 60 students have participated in the program, many of whom have “graduated”
into the journalism profession here and at newspapers across the nation.
The Daily News’ approach has a “family” feel. The paper invites minority
students to the newsroom for an informal chat, tour of the plant and an
opportunity to observe news meetings. The students also are invited to
special events like election nights. The paper shows the students that
we care, which often can make all the difference in a young person’s life.
The clincher for the program is jobs. When a teen-ager is old enough
to work, the Daily News offers the student a part-time job. In addition,
each student is assigned one or more professional mentors. Older students
also work with the younger ones. The Daily News helps students prepare
college admissions and scholarship applications. Following high school
graduation, local college commuters continue working in year-round, part-time
jobs at the newspaper.
The Daily News also revamped its summer internships — reserving the
slots for high school and college students whose permanent residence is
Dayton. The internship program was transformed from a summer-only, one-size-fits-all
to a year-round effort. Internships now are offered with varying pay rates
and hours depending on the students’ age and experience. And, by limiting
the work period to a 30-hour maximum, the Daily News has been able to more
than double the number of part-time jobs with the same budget.
By focusing on reaching minority students early, the Daily News’ commitment
to each participant can range to up to 10 years, perhaps even a lifetime.
But our paper thinks this is what it takes to foster a diverse newsroom
with deep ties to the community it serves.
Thomson is deputy managing editor of the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News.
