Spring Internship Success for Undergraduates

A dozen Bachelor of Journalism students have been busy doing internships alongside their studies this semester.

Companies taking undergraduate interns this semester include the South China Morning Post, C For Culture, AFP, Associated Press Television News, Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), Yazhou Zhoukan, Lifestyle Asia and the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA).

Lui Lok Hang (BJ 3)

Lui Lok Hang is a BJ Year 3 student. Along with Tam Ka Kei Katie, another third year student, Lui has been interning at the Hong Kong Bureau of Associated Press Television News since August last year.

“I help out with pretty much everything – from setting up interviews, helping with live broadcasts to shooting and editing news stories; from general news, feature stories to entertainment coverage,” she said.

“The best thing has been getting to know and working with AP staff reporters – whether television, text or still photos. Their speed, quality of work, adaptability and toughness – in short, their professionalism – amaze me,” Lui continued.

“The same reporter might have to deal with everything from court cases to stock markets to movie premieres in Hong Kong, and also be ready to fly off to Manila immediately after the hostage crisis happened. When people around you glide through seemingly impossible situations with ease, it makes you feel you don’t have excuses for yourself anymore when you can’t do something!”

Leung Ho Yin Nicholas (BJ 1)

Leung Ho Yin Nicholas is in his first year at the JMSC. In February, he started an internship at C For Culture, a local cultural magazine. He works alongside two other JMSC interns: Kung Wing Kei Vicky (BJ 1) and Jason Cheung (BJ 1).

Leung likes the flexible nature of the internship, which has made it possible to combine with study. “I don’t need to go to the office often. Instead, I can do the jobs at home, so the internship has not affected my studies at all,” he said.

“By contributing articles, which is very practical work, I have been enabled me to apply what I have learnt theoretically at JMSC,” said Leung.

Chan Kin Sing James is also a first year student at the JMSC. His internship is with the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA), working on the Awards for Editorial Excellence 2011.

Chan Kin Sing James (BJ 1)

“I am responsible for helping to organise entries for the awards, corresponding with entrants and event publicity,” said Chan.

“Also for meeting with the subcommittee members, such as Peter Stein, the Hong Kong Bureau Chief for The Wall Street Journal, Reginald Chua, the former Editor-in-Chief of the South China Morning Post, and other professional journalists and scholars in journalism.”

“This experience has broadened my horizons in the field of journalism, given me editorial experience and public relations skills” he continued. “I have had the chance to connect with top journalists all over the world. I now understand the importance of connecting to the world and, as a result, have decided to take part in the JMSC Exchange Programme to Denmark next semester.”

All of the students have found the experiential learning experience incredibly useful.

“One of the best things is understanding how a global news agency is run; the coordination between editors and reporters across time zones and across platforms (text, still photos, television) is quite amazing. Another thing is learning to produce news stories,” said Lui. “There are occasions when I had the opportunity to shoot and edit news stories almost entirely by myself, which was a challenging but good learning experience.”

“This internship has definitely helped my future career,” said Leung. “The journalism industry is all about experience and it has given me a clear idea about what I want to do in the future – that’s writing feature stories.”