By BECKY GAILEY
J Alumni News staff
(Front) Brandi Kruse, Alina Selyukh; (Back) Emily Ingram, Elicia Dover
Elicia Dover loves New York.
“I think everything happens here,” the recent UNL grad said. “You can walk down the street and always see someone doing something cool and new. There is a reason all of the major news stations are here. I think it’s the center of everything.”
Dover was one of four J school students who interned last fall at UNL’s ABC News on Campus bureau. That experience helped lead her to a spring semester interning in New York City for ABC’s “20/20.” That internship was extended, and then in May, she was offered a full-time job as a digital news associate with the news division.
UNL’s relationship with ABC, which began in August 2009, gives students the opportunity to prepare multimedia news stories for one of the nation’s largest news corporations.
“UNL and the students as the college here should realize they are very lucky to have ABC News on Campus because there are only six in the nation, and the opportunities that are available here through this bureau are unlike any others that are out there,” said Emily Ingram, a journalism and advertising senior from Franklin, Neb., who served as the inaugural bureau chief.
Kathy Christensen, the faculty member who supervises the bureau, emphasized the importance of the real-world experience.
“There’s a huge difference between doing stories for a class assignment and doing them for real distribution on a national platform, and our students have measurably improved their writing, reporting and video skills. They’ve learned how to find stories of national interest and prepare those stories in the most effective ways.”
(Front) Wade Hilligoss, bureau chief Carson Stokebrand; (Back) Morgan Demmel
Dover, a senior journalism major from Bryant, Ark., was one of four students who began working for ABC on Campus in fall 2009. When she left for New York in January, two more students joined the three remaining interns to staff the bureau during spring semester. The bureau also is operating this summer with three interns.
Dover works on long-term projects at ABC
In New York, Dover did research and logged tapes, essential tasks for “20/20,” one of America’s premier depth reporting programs. Instead of racing to tell breaking stories as fast as possible, “20/20” spends months, sometimes a year, on a one-hour program.
“It’s not just one day stories with quick turn-arounds. “20/20” is a long process; it’s not like a quick cable story,” Dover said. “It’s important to have in-depth stories to bring to light details people need to hear.”
Every Friday, Dover sat in the control room and watched as co-anchors Chris Cuomo and Elizabeth Vargas delivered stories that researchers had spent months compiling.
“’20/20’ has always been my dream,” Dover said. “I love the program, and I always watch it. I think that’s what did it for me; you always want to work for something you love.”
Dover received an e-mail last fall about the internship and immediately decided to apply. During winter break, Dover sat at home in Arkansas, with her suitcases packed, not knowing until the last minute where she would be spending her spring semester. Finally, the call came, and Dover flew off to New York City and “20/20.”
Just as news organizations are more likely to hire interns they know, they are also likely to work with people with whom they had success in the past. That’s probably why ABC approached Christensen about opening a UNL bureau. Christensen is a former executive producer of “ABC’s World News Tonight with Peter Jennings” and of “ABC’s Weekend News.”
Christensen contributes to the students’ success
“One thing I think that can’t be overstated is Kathy Christensen is a fabulous mentor to have,” Ingram said. “I often get papers back from her, and they’re torn up — it’s not always rainbows and sunshine — but I feel I have grown tremendously just because of Kathy Christensen and this internship.”
Dover also praised Christensen and described working in the ABC bureau as an unequaled opportunity to engage in backpack journalism. The students are expected to go out into the field and do everything. Not only do they conduct interviews, but they must be able to properly set up the lighting, edit the video and then write a news article. The students’ work is posted on ABC’s campus website but often also appears in other ABC platforms.
In her semester with ABC News on Campus, Dover reported on topics varying from horses neglected because of the economic downturn to a record-setting balloonist turned philanthropist.
Christensen had good things to say about Dover’s work and that of her fellow interns.
“Elicia, like the other students in our first bureau, started off with a bang,” Christensen said. “Her first piece — about a hot air balloonist — was beautifully shot, and she did a terrific job of reporting. She really devoted herself to this experience, which paid off in getting the internship — and I know ABC has been very pleased with her work.”
Interns learn by doing
The On Campus bureau also regularly communicates with ABC executives in New York about the students’ work. Dover said this connection, along with the experience she gained with the bureau, help her get the internship with “20/20.”
“ABC News on Campus opened up the door for me because you work directly with producers in New York every day, and they get to know you on a personal level and what work you do,” Dover said.
Christensen, too, emphasized the importance of the on-campus work.
“This experience has been invaluable for our students,” she said. “Not only have they had an opportunity to do numerous text and video stories that have achieved national distribution and recognition, but they’ve become highly professional in terms of dealing with editors and producers in New York as well as with sources.”
In addition to helping the students connect to ABC, the experience in the ABC bureau has also helped students get internships with other prestigious news organizations. Ingram is working this summer as Web producer intern at The Washington Post. Brandi Kruse is interning this summer in New York at CBSNews.com in the video unit. And Alina Selyukh landed an internship at Thomson Reuters in Washington, D.C., for the summer, where she will be both writing and working with video.
Dover, who spent last summer in New York interning with Fox Business, knows that it takes much more than connections to land a major summer internship. Students must be motivated and willing to take a risk.
“It definitely takes the willingness to leave where you are comfortable, and it takes courage to be able to leave somewhere and give an internship in New York a shot,” she said. “Definitely, when interviewing, put your best foot forward, let them know how hard you will work and then follow through on that.”
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