The Pittsburgh Media Partnership is seeking a professional journalist to serve as the part-time coordinator for a new paid student internship program that will match 10 to 15 college-level students with media outlets that are members of the Partnership.

The internship seeks to give students who have a serious interest in a journalism career — particularly those who are underrepresented in the industry — an opportunity to learn on the job, improve their portfolio and leverage the experience so that they can break into the industry more easily after graduation. 

While each news outlet will manage the day-to-day assignments and job duties, the coordinator will help recruit and match the interns to the news outlets and facilitate fellowship and additional networking and learning opportunities for the cohort throughout their 12-week program, which will run from May-August 2021. 

The work will begin immediately and take about six months, including time after the program ends for additional career counseling and program debriefing. It can be done remotely. 

The position is administered through the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University and reports to the Partnership’s project editor. Pay is $25 an hour, and hours are expected to range from 20 hours to 30 hours per week, and may include evening or weekend hours. (No benefits are being provided.)

Please apply if you are someone who:

• is an experienced newsroom editor/manager who has, formally or informally, mentored students or professionals early in their career and can help students navigate the professional environment of a newsroom and its culture;

• can act as a resource for site supervisors for information and guidance concerning issues of equity and inclusion, helping to support students of color working in predominantly white spaces; and  

• has built a diverse professional network that you can turn to create an engaging program for the student cohort as a whole.

How we see this working:

There are three phases to this work: 

Before the program launches (estimated 5-6 weeks):

• Help recruit students to apply for the program.

• Design the program requirements for news organizations interested in hosting an intern and the process to match interns with the outlets who apply to do so. 

• Manage the intern selection, help them set goals for the overall experience, and match them to the news outlet(s) they’ll work with during their 12-week internship.

• Help outlets with the onboarding processes, where needed, assisting site supervisors with identifying organizational resources to support marginalized/underrepresented students to foster an inclusive workplace and promote success.

During the 12-week program, expected to run May 2021 through August 2021: 

• Conduct regular check-ins with both interns and their site supervisors, with the goals of the internship in mind. Help facilitate the process as needed. 

• Provide editing and coaching support, supplementing the on-site mentorship and instruction as needed. 

• Coordinate regular (virtual or in-person) cohort gatherings, guest speaking and programming for the group of interns throughout their program and host an asynchronous cohort Slack channel. 

Wrapping up the project (three to six weeks):

• Help students distill their experience on their resumes, provide additional career counseling and information on opportunities and job searching, and collect qualitative data from the interns and media partners about the experience.

• Debrief with the media partners, documenting the successes and lessons learned from the pilot program in a way that can be applied to the next iteration of the program. 

About the Pittsburgh Media Partnership:

We are a local news collaborative of nearly two dozen news partners in the Pittsburgh region. Our mission is to support a vibrant, diverse and independent local media ecosystem. Together, we are listening, sharing and innovating — to ensure that all the stories that need to be told are told. 

Our coverage includes seven counties that make up the metro area, including Allegheny, Pennsylvania’s second largest county. More about us can be found: pghmediapartnership.com 

Our project website can be found: thebigstorypgh.com  

How to apply:

Send the project editor, AmyJo Brown, an email at amyjo@pghmediapartnership.com, with the subject line “Internship coordinator.” Please include a resume or link to a resume and a letter of interest for the position that answers these questions:

• Please tell us about your experience(s) serving as a mentor to students or professionals early in their career.

• Please tell us about any experience you’ve had helping newsrooms improve their internship or hiring program, particularly related to issues of equity and inclusion. (If you do not have direct experience, you can give us examples for how you would approach this kind of work.)

• Please tell us (briefly) how you would approach creating an engaging program for the students alongside their day-to-day work.

Also, please note that the chosen candidate will be required to undergo a background check for child-safety clearances. 

We are hoping to begin this work asap. Applications will be accepted through midnight, Sunday, March 13.