Reuters

At Reuters interns can expect to be sent out in the field to perform tasks such as conduct interviews on the street and attend press conferences. You will need to be confident in pitching stories and following them through, but a certain amount of humility is also required as this is a busy, professional office and the intern is at the bottom of the pile. Stories may be rejected without explanation and the immediacy of the 24 hour wire service can lead to a degree of stress amongst staff at times - something that a journalism intern should learn to deal with. That said, the 2009 interns noted that ‘all the journalists we worked with were open, friendly, helpful, and made coming to work a real delight’.

Intern Duties

• Pitching and investigating stories. Interns may find themselves being directed towards a lot of ‘soft’ news reporting. Interns will be put through standard in-house training for ethics etc.
• Plenty of time in the field (press conferences, doorstops) trying to get quotes. Students may initially be paired up but later sent out independently. 2009 students were surprised by how much initiative they had to show. If office reporters are going out on assignment, you have to ask if you can tag along. Don’t wait around to be invited.

Specific Requirements

• Confidence. At times you will have to push to pitch your ideas and actively get out to cover them.
• Speed. Again, no place for slackers. Stories have to be phoned in as deadlines are counted in minutes.
• Laptop is essential and it is a good idea to bring a digital recorder as you cannot be borrowing them from other reporters in the office.

Location and getting there

Centrally located at Wisma Antara on Jl. Kebon Sirih. The BI busway stop is just around the corner. You will spend more time getting up to the office in the elevator than getting to work.

Work hours

Monday-Friday, 9am to 7.30pm.

Student stories

2009

Julie Shingleton is a postgraduate student from University of Technology Sydney. Her work placement was at Reuters. Read her stories.

2008

Sunanda Creagh is currently a journalist at the Sydney Morning Herald. While she was a student a couple of years ago at University of Technology Sydney she studied Journalism and International Relations. During that time she did one year with ACICIS at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, so her Indonesian is almost fluent. Her work placement on JPP 2008 was with Reuters. At the end of program party she was awarded the "Miss Jakarta Poise" Prize by her fellow students. Read her stories.

Will Robertson from Massey University in New Zealand had a workplacement at Reuters.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSSP21287620080226