Journalism Intern Review

I loved my placement at the Coventry Telegraph as part of my media degree. I was involved in all aspects of the newspaper - from editing to production. It gave me a chance to find out what goes on behind the scenes at my local newspaper, as I have been a paper boy before.

I felt highly valued by my colleagues who made a real effort to involve me in their work. Some colleagues were slightly more pushy than others - for instance, the leader of the delivery team gave me quite a lot more responsibility than the editorial team, owing the the nature of their work.

I was given great support and guidance by both management and supervisory teams. Many of these colleagues themselves came from a similar background to me, having worked their way up the organisation. Therefore, they understood the pressures I was going through during my short time, and were able to offer me advice when needed.

I was quite busy since my role was varied. The job involved a lot more meetings than I originally anticipated, and there was a lot of emphasis on creating a good quality newspaper for daily readership. This is because the Telegraph is printed every day excluding Sundays so there is quite a lot to get through every day.

I was given a reasonable amount of responsibility given that I came in with no experience although a high interest in journalism. The placement firstly involved a stint in the delivery team, since I had previously delivered newspapers for the Telegraph as a paper boy. I then was given more responsibility in the editorial and production teams.

I greatly improved my writing skills during the placement, and this helped me throughout my degree as it allowed me to recognise the importance of tailoring one's writing towards the interests of the reader. The skills also proved useful in allowing me to demonstrate my journalistic abilities, although I have not decided to rejoin the Coventry Telegraph.

Great - there were a range of people from different backgrounds who are all local to the Coventry area. It felt like a family because we all had the dsame objective to provide a good quality newspaper for both online and physical readers. There were plenty of people who had similar experience to my own.

It was well organised especially since I only got the placement through a word of mouth recommendation. They made sure to include me in all aspects of the newspaper's operations. One downside was that this sometimes left me wondering who I would be interacting with each day, but it added variety to my work.

I was given a lot of training, especially in the editorial team where there are so many considerations to make about the provision of content for readers. This is unsurprising but nevertheless it was impressive since the company is already so busy on a daily basis to meet article targets.

Great - although I have not myself taken up a full time role at the newspaper. Most journalists tend to work their way up through the industry, starting with their local newspapers first. I wanted to have a national or even international perspective on things, but I was informed that I would always be welcome back to the Coventry Telegraph.

Excellent

Very affordable

Decent

Not really