UBC journalism students are working as interns with some of the world’s best renowned media organizations that have converged on Vancouver to cover the 2010 Winter Olympics.
They are working with a range of organizations, from major U.S. broadcasters such as NBC News and Sports to CBS News Morning and their Canadian counterparts, CTV and CBC.
Students interning at U.S. networks are getting a taste of what it’s like to work around the clock on a major news event.
Amanda Ash (‘10), who is working with NBC Sports as a video logger in the alpine events, finds the pace fast and the production team ‘incredible.’ Grant Burns (‘11) is with the CBS News crew in town working to prepare daily newscasts.
Students say some of the Olympic work can be challenging. Brent Wittmeier (‘10) is facilitating media access to athletes in what’s called the ‘mix zone.’ It has been an exciting time for Brent. Until one day he had to deny access to French athletes trying to reach teammate and colleague, biathlete Vincent Jay, while carrying a phone with President Nicolas Sarkozy, on the line to offer congratulations on winning a gold medal.
At CKNW, five students are working with B.C.’s private radio news leader. They have been working in radio news and on the talk shows. In addition, some of them have been contributing online content.
A total of seven students are working in various areas at CBC. Three students are researching for CBC Television and another is contributing to the Olympic coverage at CBCnews.ca. Among them is Daniel Guillemette (‘11), who is interning as a current affairs researcher with the Olympics coordinating unit at CBC Radio in Vancouver.
There also are a number of students working for the official Canadian Olympics broadcaster, CTV News and CTV online.
Megan Stewart (‘10) is writing for CTV’s website, while Lara Howsam (‘11) is working on the CTV nightly newscast and focusing on the cultural elements of the games.
Rebecca Cheung (‘11) has been working as a “media monitor.” Her job is to watch the Olympic live coverage to ensure that CTV’s host broadcaster permissions are not being violated by other broadcasters.
Olympic Broadcasting Services recruited Vivian Luk (‘11) to work as a paid intern during the Games. Her job description includes interacting with IOC members and possibly athletes.
Some students such as Fabiola Carletti (‘11) have chosen to intern at independent media. While reporting for TheTyee.ca, she has covered Olympic protests and Stephen Colbert’s visit to Creekside Park in Vancouver.
“There are so many stories to be told outside of the venues and they are no less important or compelling,” she said.
For her ground-level account of an Olympic intern’s experience, check out her blog.
