1. Student Opportunities
  2. Internships & Freelancing

How to Find an Internship

Finding an internship is a time-consuming but worthwhile challenge, and completing an internship increases your chances of finding a job after graduation. Our students have interned locally, throughout Arizona, across the nation and around the world, including at the Arizona Republic, CNN, the LA Times, the Egypt Independent, KNBC, CBS Sports, Family Circle Magazine and the Jerusalem Post.

Overall Tips

A few things must be kept in mind regarding internships:

  • The key ingredient in finding and succeeding in an internship is a student’s initiative.
  • Many internships are unpaid and require students to earn academic credit, which means students pay tuition to work at an internship. However, internships offer one of the best return-on-investments for your tuition dollars.
  • Nearly all paid summer internships have deadlines in October or November. You must plan ahead!
  • To find the best possible internship to match your particular needs, contact Internship Coordinator Rachel Mosteller.

Getting Started

Weekly, the School of Journalism sends out a list of internship opportunities via email. The School also hosts an Internship Fair twice a year and offers private visits with recruiters, Skype interviews and information sessions. The internship coordinator is available Monday through Thursday to discuss internship/job opportunities, review résumés, cover letters and application packages, as well as provide interview practice. Click here to schedule an appointment, either in-person or Zoom.

Where to Look

There are dozens of sites that list internships, freelance opportunities and jobs for journalism students, but here are a few places to start to get an idea of what is out there are:

Students interested in magazine internships should check the website of the American Society of Magazine Editors as well as ed2010, which offers a variety of excellent paid and unpaid internships. Most magazines list internships or job openings on their websites, including National Journal, Mother Jones and High Country News.

Looking for work in the Arts and Entertainment field? The internship and job link at the A+E network is the place to start your search.

The International Journalists’ Network website posts a list of late-deadline summer internships that students can apply for over winter break.

Poynter lists anywhere from 40 to 80 summer internships each fall so you can make the October deadline. Make sure to check it out – even if you miss one year’s deadlines, be proactive and put deadlines on calendar for the following year.

The Dow Jones Newspaper Fund offers dozens of well-paid print internships on copy-editing desks on major papers throughout the country and our School administers a screening test for those internships each fall. The Chips Quinn Program for Diversity in Journalism also offers well-paid print internships for reporters, photographers and videographers. Deadline for this internship is also in the early fall.

One of the best places to search for summer journalism internships is the outstanding internship website maintained by New York University. Students looking for international reporting opportunities can find English-language newspapers all over the world by consulting www.thepaperboy.com.

Students about to graduate can look at all the above for jobs, and also the web site of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Additionally, Professor Ruxandra Guidi curates a list of places that take freelance work at Fonografiacollective.

Small, local newspapers and television stations are some of the best places to break into internships – and jobs!. If there’s some town you’d like to get to know better, write to the news editor of its local newspaper or the news director of the local TV station and offer your services for the summer. The smaller the town, the better your odds for success. See this great list of small daily and weekly paper. Additionally, nearly all newspapers affiliated with the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies accept summer interns. See this list of alt-weeklies. (Make sure you understand what type of journalism is practiced at alt-weeklies before applying.)

If you’re looking for general internships outside of journalism, the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences has an excellent internship database.

Join a Club

Students looking for paid internships should also consider joining professional organizations (most of which offer low student membership fees) for the assistance and opportunities that they provide. Those groups include: the Society of Professional Journalists, the Radio Television Digital News Association , the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the Asian American Journalists Association, the Native American Journalists Association, the South Asian Journalists Association and the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. See the American Media Institute's list of professional organizations.