BJ Recounts Her Summer Internship Experience at CNN Operations

The CNN Operations Internship programme is designed to demonstrate how the network functions around the world, as well as Hong Kong’s role within a 24-hour global news network, said Geehee Shin, a Year 2 Bachelor of Journalism student at the JMSC.

Shin, who comes from South Korea, was accepted on the six-week scheme. Here is her account of her internship so far:

Geehee Shin at CNN

“For the first three weeks, I was on the morning shift; I worked from 5.30 am until 1.30 pm.

“It was exceptionally hard to wake up early in the morning to go to work, but I realise that if I want to work for a news network, working early in the morning is a must.

“At the beginning, I was taught the steps of how to prepare the studio for the show, as well as the rundown of the show and how the directors and cameramen function.

“I also had an in-depth look at the audio board and vision mixer.

“Basically, when there is a show, I had to track the anchor’s audio and to shadow the director.

“Other areas I learnt were the basic principles of tape-to-tape editing. Nowadays, everything is digitalised with Apple’s Final Cut Pro, so there is usually no need for this kind of editing.

“However, as CNN is still using tapes to edit packages, it was essential to learn the basic principles. Compared to that of Final Cut, it is much more laborious work, but once you get it, it is pretty simple to comprehend.

“When there were no live shows going on, I was at the editing suites editing the pre-edited TalkAsia package using Final Cut Pro to practice some of my skills.

“I had to set up for the shows every day and spent time running the audio board listening to the director’s commands to understand the terminology of television.

“My studies at the JMSC have prepared me well for this internship because by taking both Television News Writing and Television News Production courses, I was already trained to create my own news package using Final Cut Pro.

“More importantly, as the professors had drilled us in the terminology of television, I understood the director’s commands while I was listening to them through the audio board.”