Agence France Presse (AFP)

This is a great place to be when the news is happening, but remember that AFP is a major international wire service so it will only run stories that are of international interest. Students need to be mindful of this when writing the actual stories and be aware of the style required for a global audience. When these international stories are thin on the ground things may not be so fast-paced around the AFP office. Interns need to be patient, particularly if they are used to working in busy newsrooms.

Indonesian language skills are not required within the office environment but are handy for interviews conducted outside the office.

Intern duties

• Placing local news on the wire - either stories researched yourself or picked up from the local press and redone.
• Quickly writing news stories and putting them up on the wire.
• Feature writing for the wire. Students will be able to pitch feature stories and go out and research them (subject to available time).
• Lots of phone interviews.

Location and getting there

The AFP office is in the Deutch Bank building that is centrally located adjacent to the Hotel Indonesia Traffic Circle in Central Jakarta. There is a busway stop next door.

Specific Requirements

None. Laptop not necessary as all stories are logged straight onto the wire interface used by AFP.

Work hours

Monday-Friday 10am to 5-6pm. Start the day by reading the papers and major news sites.

Student stories

2009

Richard Willingham is a postgraduate student at RMIT. His work placement was at Agence France Presse (AFP). Read his stories.

2008

Belinda Lopez, from the University of Technology Sydney, undertook a four-week, work-experience placement with the French international news agency, Agence France Presse. At least six stories were published around the world under her byline in the four weeks she was with AFP. After the JPP she got a job at the Jakarta Post as a copy editor.

http://uscmediareligion.org/?theStory&sID=619 She also had an article published in French