<\/p>\n
Row 1: Alula Alderson, Tania Azhang, Vince Basada, HG Biggs, Sean Campbell. Row 2: Ruyuan Li, Reeti Malhotra, Haley Parsley, Evelyn Ronan, Libby Simpson. Row 3: Naomi Taxay, Sofia Williams, Velvet Wu, Julian Zhu.<\/p>\n
Sacramento Bee file<\/p>\n
If you visited our newsroom now, and had not seen this story, you would probably wonder: Just how young are these Sacramento Bee reporters? You would see them, sitting in pockets together, these kids with ear pods, intensely buried in laptops, working on stories and wonder if they were old enough to drink.<\/p>\n
Some are.<\/p>\n
So, they\u2019re not kids \u2014 but that really depends on your definition and where you are in life. They are, of course, our summer interns, devoting 10 or 12 weeks in a crash course in Sacramento journalism. Every summer, a group of aspiring journalists step into our newsroom and immediately contribute news and visuals while they learn.<\/p>\n
The Sacramento Bee and McClatchy Media are committed to opening the doors to the next generation of journalists, not only to give them opportunities to learn but to help prepare them in shaping a career in providing news and information. I\u2019m The Bee\u2019s managing editor and have coordinated our internship program for decades. I tell candidates during the interviews, they can learn, we can assess new talent and they can weigh whether this is a profession they wish to pursue.<\/p>\n
Many have. Our interns have made their marks at a variety of journalism outlets, and I always point out their bylines and say, \u201cthat\u2019s a former Bee intern.\u201d I find joy in it.<\/p>\n
With the help of Nathaniel Levine, Assistant Managing Editor for Local News and Visuals, and the programs that help fund their time here, I begin to connect with candidates in November. In our newsroom this summer, 14 are engaged in a professional educational Sacbee course in journalism, working alongside our staff covering local news politics and sports; capturing visuals; and learning the ropes of audience engagement.<\/p>\n
They are a splendid cast of young talent. I sent them a bunch of questions and they emailed responses. I thought you would like to read some excerpts. (This is an expanded version of a \u201cFrom the Newsroom\u201d newsletter<\/a> we sent to subscribers.)<\/p>\n First, some acknowledgements<\/p>\n We are very fortunate at The Bee to work with Rhema Bland, McClatchy Media\u2019s Deputy Director of News Talent, Culture & Training. She gets us started in the fall of each year and works in a variety of ways to help us recruit and engage with students. We also rely on external funding to build our intern team. Sandy Louey<\/a>, with the local chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association, reaches out every year to see if we would like to partner again with AAJA funding to support an intern, as we have for almost two decades. Derek Webster<\/a> with Yale\u2019s Office of Career Strategy coordinates the Paul Block Journalism Funded Internships<\/a> with us. Sarah Wert<\/a> with Stanford\u2019s Communication Department keeps us on track with the Rowland and Pat Rebele Journalism Internship Program<\/a> and the Harry Press Stanford Daily Award Internship<\/a>. And I always appreciate hearing from Stanford\u2019s Janine Zacharia<\/a>, who lets me know about promising journalism candidates. These are invaluable members of our internship network who are instrumental in opening doors for new journalists.<\/p>\n Who they are<\/p>\n Alula Alderson<\/a>, Stanford University, Harry Press<\/p>\n Tania Azhang<\/a>, Columbia University (starts July 13)<\/p>\n Vince Basada, UC Davis (starts July 13)<\/p>\n HG Biggs, Ohio University<\/p>\n Sean Campbell<\/a>, USC<\/p>\n Ruyuan Li, Boston University, AAJA<\/p>\n Reeti Malhotra<\/a>, Yale University, Paul Block<\/p>\n Haley Parsley<\/a>, University of Maryland<\/p>\n Evelyn Ronan<\/a>, Yale University, Paul Block<\/p>\n Libby Simpson<\/a>, Western Kentucky University<\/p>\n Naomi Taxay<\/a>, Northwestern University<\/p>\n Sofia Williams<\/a>, Stanford University, Rebele<\/p>\n Velvet Wu<\/a>, Yale University, Paul Block<\/p>\n Ziyu Julian Zhu, Stanford University, Rebele<\/p>\n Some observations about journalism and stories<\/p>\n I asked them some questions about their aspirations, observations and stories. I can\u2019t include the full responses, so I have selected some excerpts. I think you will find them illuminating and uplifting. I do.<\/p>\n I randomly picked four here to highlight some of their experiences:<\/p>\n Alula: \u201cJournalism has taught me two major lessons. First, it never ceases to amaze me how willing people are to open up to a complete stranger and express vulnerability. Over the past two weeks, a woman told me about her husband\u2019s death in the Esparto explosion, a man told me about losing everything he owned in a wildfire, and another woman cried while telling me about her son\u2019s death in the Russian-Ukrainian war. Second, I\u2019m often reminded that although we come from different backgrounds, we share universal human experiences. While interviewing people who have faced immense loss, I hear the same few sentiments again and again: \u2018Invest in family,\u2019 \u2018Tell your loved ones how much they mean to you,\u201d\u2019and \u2018Don\u2019t take life for granted.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Alula was thrown into the story about the library shooting in Chico<\/a> her first week here. She explained what that was like: \u201cOn my first real day on the job, I was thrown into the deep end: my editor sent me to Chico to cover the aftermath of the recent library shooting. While capturing photos of the memorial, I spotted a nicely-dressed man across the street. I approached and spotted a badge identifying him as a police detective. I asked if he would be open to an interview \u2014 he declined \u2014 or if he had suggestions for others I could talk to. He recommended I check out a restaurant called Nobby\u2019s. While I initially doubted the relevance of a local burger spot to the shooting, I soon learned the owners were family members of one of the victims. I had the opportunity to interview them and gather new details about the crime. The very next day, I reported on the killer\u2019s arraignment and a press conference about the shooting. The whole experience felt like a movie. It was tragic, exciting, and a brilliant learning opportunity all at once.\u201d<\/p>\n Sean: \u201cGrowing up in Davis, I obviously knew a fair amount about Sacramento but it is a completely different ballgame to walk around, talk to people, attend community events and hear reader feedback. It is an honor to serve the community I was a part of for so many years.\u201d<\/p>\n Sean covers many subjects, including sports. \u201cMy recent coverage of the three-game series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Athletics is both top of mind and probably my best work this summer. I got multiple scoops, wrote features, game stories and breaking news all from a converted luxury box turned press seating at Sutter Health Park. … that series gave me a glimpse of what being a beat writer would look like and it sure seemed fun!\u201d<\/p>\n Reeti: \u201cI have been struck by the interesting intersection where Sacramento exists \u2014 it is a state capital, city and county. Our coverage encompasses political news with statewide and national implications, alongside local news of major significance for surrounding communities. It\u2019s a little bit of everything.\u201d<\/p>\n Reeti has been mostly tasked with breaking news, but also has been one of our go-to general assignment reporters. \u201cI\u2019ve been fortunate to do a lot of stories that have stuck with me. I\u2019ve enjoyed covering the primaries, municipal governance, statewide legal battles, and breaking news. I think one story that\u2019ll stay with me, though, is the county budget. As long, dense, and complicated as the county budget hearings were, it was a joy to dive into a complex, nuanced issue and translate it into comprehensible coverage.\u201d<\/p>\n Velvet: \u201cI\u2019ve realized through my time at The Bee that reading stories is very different from telling them \u2014 there\u2019s a layer of abstraction between the reader and the writer where the reader receives a very clean, edited and directional story. Journalism is about telling the truth, but it\u2019s also about making the world more interesting. What I\u2019ve come to love most about the job is actually the messier parts where I have more questions than answers.\u201d<\/p>\n Velvet, like Reeti, has been tasked with many general assignment stories. This has been new to her. \u201cReporting for The Bee is the first real reporting experience I\u2019ve gotten, so covering the news in Sacramento has been foundational in a lot of ways. Mainly, I\u2019m surprised by how contradictory the city is. Everybody seems to agree and disagree on most things.\u201d<\/p>\n More insights<\/p>\n Here are comments from others:<\/p>\n Tania: \u201cI was only 9 years old when my parents and I moved from Iran to the United States. I always had a passion for film and literature, but upon our immigration I felt the itch to write for the first time. Writing became the avenue through which I could preserve my memories of home, and become the tool with which I could articulate how I see the world. The desire to preserve the experiences of everyday people in writing led me to becoming a journalist.\u201d<\/p>\n Vince: \u201cI\u2019m pursuing journalism because I love the process of reporting and writing and because I get more enjoyment than I should from getting the inside scoop on stories that matter. Being trusted enough to tell other people\u2019s stories is a privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n HG (visuals): \u201cThe short answer to why I became a journalist is that I love people, and I love being an artist. Photojournalism blends my love for art with the ability to highlight issues important to the community in which I live. I enjoy working in a newsroom because of the variety of assignments. Rather than focusing on just sports photography, for example, we are able to document just about anything and everything. I consider it one of the greatest honors when someone is willing to sit and tell me about their life and trust me to show their life to others through photography.\u201d<\/p>\n Ruyuan: \u201cThanks to AAJA and The Bee, I get to spend my first summer on the West Coast. Over the past few weeks, I\u2019ve learned so much about California\u2019s cities, politics, and communities while helping connect readers with local journalism.\u201d<\/p>\n Haley: \u201cMy mom, who is a disability rights attorney, raised me to have a healthy level of skepticism. I love that in this job skepticism is valued, and that we get to spend time chasing down the truth to prove ourselves right or wrong. There\u2019s always a new thing to learn and a new puzzle to piece together. And, I love explaining things! Doing that through writing, for a diverse audience, is a challenge I enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n Evelyn: \u201cYou rarely have a good excuse to ask weird people weird questions, so I feel very lucky that there is a career in it for me.\u201d<\/p>\n Libby (visuals): \u201cCollege was not always an option for me because my family was very poor, so I picked the school that gave me the most money and chose journalism because I loved to write. After the first year, I realized the impact journalism has on people and I\u2019ve seen first hand the way it can change people\u2019s lives for the better. Now I couldn\u2019t imagine doing anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n Naomi: \u201cI love that covering Sacramento means covering local, state and national news all at once. I\u2019ve reported at each level before, but never all at once. It\u2019s been fascinating to see how a decision at the Capitol can have an immediate impact on California communities while also becoming part of the national conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n Sofia: \u201cOne of the first stories I worked on when I got to The Bee was \u201cResources for post-RTO workplaces appear inadequate, state employees say<\/a>.\u201d While writing it, I had the opportunity to speak with a wide array of state workers. Hearing their varied experiences reminded me how much I enjoy interviewing and allowed me to explore the intersection between politics and human interest.\u201d<\/p>\n Julian (visuals): \u201cI\u2019ve always been drawn to visual journalism because I believe photographs and video can help people understand communities, share collective memories, and experience things they might never encounter. As an international journalist, I\u2019m especially interested in documenting stories that connect cultures and show the human side of the news.\u201d<\/p>\n Oh, one more \u2014 I saved one of Libby\u2019s observations for last, because it is succinct and dead-on:<\/p>\n Libby: \u201cSacramento is hot.\u201d<\/p>\n