I feel really guilty I never kept up with my blogging about my internship at NBC. As my time over at Channel 29 is coming to a close, I’m starting to wish that I had a record of how my skills and views about the media have changed during these past few months. I’ve been through a lot over there: drug busts, shootings, going to my first football game… Despite me going into the internship with my idealistic worldviews and aspirations of making a difference (like every young student of journalism that’s never had real experience), I quickly found myself melding into the system that is Big Media. Excitement over the big stories (Death/Destruction/Dismemberment), groaning over the soft stories (graffiti, development, finance)… The job became about the thrill of running after a story, finding a way around the police tape. And I lost touch with everything I’d originally hoped to glean from the experience - the connection with the community that allows you to truly tell stories about the people.

And this is why I loved my internship yesterday. Originally, I was scheduled to help out with coverage on a giant Meth bust that involved dozens of people and years of dealing. “Awesome!” I thought. That was the kind of excitement that kept my adrenaline going well past the 11 o’clock broadcast. 30 seconds later, however, I was reassigned to go ride along in the Santa Van - a group of Charlottesville Police Officers that dress up as Santa Clause and give out toys to kids in poor neighborhoods. Drug bust, or riding in a claustrophobic van for two hours… You can imagine which I would rather have been on.

But as soon as I got in the van with the officers (and an off-duty Daily Progress photog who just loves kids), my entire mindset changed. The van was completely filled with stuffed animals, toys, fruit, and candy canes; not to mention the four officers who had more Christmas spirit than any people I’d ever met. The NBC29 photographer I was with had the filming covered, so I was able to forget about the establishing shots and color balance and the Nat Package we were supposed to be creating. I wasn’t an intern for those few hours - I was just a kid helping Santa help the community.

And it made me remember why I had first become interested in the media, in journalism. It reminded me of what journalists are supposed to do. Because it’s not just about “reporting the news” - or at least the “news” we tend to concentrate on. It’s about giving a voice to those who speak softly; it’s about telling the stories of the people that make the world run, whether it’s on a global or local scale. And most importantly, it’s meant to be a service to the people. Not a business, not an international corporation - journalists are meant to be public servants, helping the communities in which they live by opening up lines of communication between its residents.

That’s what we were doing, riding on that Santa Van, watching the kids literally run up to us, screaming out of excitement to see Santa. To see the love and care that the citizens of Charlottesville are capable of.

We never ended up running that story about the Santa Van - three deaths and a major meth bust bumped it out of the lineup.

[...] Michael Strickland has been interning at NBC 29, and wrote yesterday about falling into the trap of “if it bleeds, it leads.” [...]

What a great blog post. Merry Christmas and thanks for sharing that story. I had started to get out of the Christmas spirit myself, scrambling to get ready to travel in a car for 9+ hours… But then I read this and now I’m humming carols again and thinking about ways I can be more generous with my time next holiday season. This post is definitely a keeper. Thanks again.

Great post. Great experience. Thanks for writing about journalism in such a real way.

Don’t ever lose touch with those emotions or sight of those objectives as you move forward in your career. Newsrooms will wear you down, but stay strong through your values and beliefs. What you write is so very true.

Thanks everyone! Now I just have my fingers crossed that none of my producers read cvillenews…

D’oh! That concern didn’t once cross my mind, and it really should have. I’m sorry about that.

Haha, don’t worry about it. I’m almost out of there, anyway

Whoops! Guess I wasn’t supposed to see this.

The best advice I ever got was from Linda Ellerbee. She said that when all is over and done, you need to be able to go home and look at yourself in the mirror.

You’re a smart guy. It didn’t take you long enough to see through the facade. It’s an epiphany some people on payroll still need to have. News is all about guts and glory - but there’s also broken hearts and darkness.

It’s no problem! I’ve learned long ago that whatever I put online, is visible to the entire world.

And that’s really good advice. Linda Ellerbee’s a big role model of mine, so thanks!

Hi Michael - I’m the sunrise reporter at NBC29 so i’ve never met you but have heard good things! I did a story with some of the same police officers who put on breakfasts for kids in the Hardy Drive area a few times a week. The point is to build relationships and - they hope - eventually friendships. Wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out when I got the assigment. The story ended up being one of my favorite ones so far too!

[...] moments for me, not the least of which occurred on this very blog. A few weeks ago, I wrote about my experiences at NBC29 here in Charlottesville, which some at the station could theoretically take offense at. Naturally, [...]

[...] like a place I could learn a lot working at. And hopefully I wouldn’t repeat my mistake of criticising the station on my blog, only to have my supervisor and producer find the post… [...]