The Intern Files

Dear Virginia

saroffb2 — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 03:34:45 +0000

Dear Virginia,

I’m sorry to inform you that your friends are right. There is no Santa Claus.

But before you fret, let me explain myself.

I could have simply responded to your message by telling you that Santa Claus is real. But, I would have been perpetuating a lie that has been passed down to generations. I did not wish to continue to lie to you. I want you to enjoy Christmas for what it truly means.

Christmas is not for the lines at Macy’s or the rush to see what is under the tree on Christmas morning. Christmas is our time to celebrate what we have, who we love, and what we are grateful for.

So, Virginia, I must apologize for upsetting you. However, I will not apologize for telling you the truth. It is my hope that you give thanks for what you already have, and not hope for excess. This way, you can spread love to all those who need it, just as the fictional Santa would.

Virginia, you can be your own Santa. Because he is not real does not mean he can not live inside you. Together, we can give this world the little joy it needs.

In Conclusion

saroffb2 — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 03:08:39 +0000

As of today, I have completed my internship with the Times Leader Scranton Edition. The experience has been a good one, and I certainly have learned a lot. I now have numerous clips I can show to possible employers. I have gained skills that will help me in future workplaces. Overall, having an internship was a rewarding experience that I would reccomend to anyone that is interested in having a career in journalism.

Man on the Street

saroffb2 — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:40:45 +0000

Today, I was asked to conduct Man on the Street interviews. Each week, the Scranton Edition runs this feature, in which five random people are asked a question. Each person’s response is recorded and their picture is also taken.

While this task may seem easy, it often takes an hour or more to finish. Many people are skeptcial to speak to someone they do not know. Others do not want their picture taken. Some do not even want to give their name.

This week’s question was “How do you feel about the city’s plan to raise the parking fee?” The city intends to raise its parking meter fee from 25 cents per half hour to 50 cents per half hour.

The responses I recieved included “I don’t think people will be able to afford this because of the economy,” “It’s too high,” and “It doesn’t affect me because I don’t drive.”

Lessons

saroffb2 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:38:03 +0000

This week I learned the important lessons of both patience and persistence in the newspaper industry. I was assigned a story about local organizations serving Thanksgiving meals. I contacted about three locations who did not respond after days of waiting. Thinking that I didn’t have any sources, I was about to give up on the story. Just this morning however, I received a call back from two of the locations who gave me great quotes for the story. With renewed confidence, I again called the third organization, who agreed to speak with me immediately.

I will post this story when it appears in the paper.

Shared stories

saroffb2 — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:35:34 +0000

I learned today that articles I have written have a larger readership than I had thought. Some articles from this semester have been picked up by national websites. An example of this is my Operation Free bus tour story from last month. This article that I wrote for the Scranton Edition was featured on both the VET PAC website and the Operation Free websites. These websites have a huge readership nationwide, and are frequented by politicians and other leaders.

Here is a link to the PDF file from the VET PAC website:

(http://www.vetpac.org/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=157

This is a link to the article on the Operation Free website:

http://www.operationfree.net/2009/10/23/operation-free-in-the-wilkes-barre-times-leader/

University of Scranton student project

saroffb2 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:11:35 +0000

One of the cool things about this internship is the paper’s relationship with and proximity to the University of Scranton. The paper often covers events and other happenings on campus.

This week, I am working on a story about a group University of Scranton electrical engineering students who reconfigured an XBOX controller so that a young boy with a spinal cord injury could play games again.

The students received a $7,500 grant from the Northeast Pennsylvania Technology Institute to support the project.

Here is a photo of the students presenting the new controller to the boy (provided by the University of Scranton).

Annual Thanksgiving Community Program

saroffb2 — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:18:11 +0000

Today, I attended a news conference detailing the progress of Friends of the Poor ‘s 33rd Annual Thanksgiving Community program.

Friends of the Poor is a non-profit organization in Scranton that works to feed, clothe, and house the underprivileged.

The group that spoke at the conference were incredibly inspiring; showing the effect that just a small group of people have on a large but needy community.

Each year, Friends of the Poor partners with the Family to Family program to provide Thanksgiving meals to local families. This year, over $80,000 in food items have been collected, and the organization plans to feed over 2,000 people.

Friends of the Poor is looking for volunteers on Tuesday, Nov. 24 to assist with the dinner at the Scranton Cultural Center. They will also need volunteers the next day for the distribution of gift baskets.

The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network

saroffb2 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:25:18 +0000

Pancreatic cancer has recently been in the spotlight because of the death of Patrick Swayze, so it is timely that November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month.

I was asked to write a short feature story about the events happening in the area next month to raise both money and awareness about the disease.

Today, I spoke with Taryn Jones, the founder of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.

Jones founded this organization when her father was diagnosed with the disease.

“I got involved because four years ago my dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer after nine months of complaining of symptoms. What happens often is they start to show symptoms much earlier than their diagnosis, but they are often treated for other things until further investigation occurs. It was too late for my father who was diagnosed with Stage Four and passed away five months later,” Jones said.

You can watch a PSA about pancreatic cancer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EvhkBUnxeQ

Operation Free

saroffb2 — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:57:39 +0000

The Operation Free bus tour made a stop in downtown Scranton Thursday. My editor asked me to cover the event, so around 10 a.m. I headed to the courthouse.

Operation Free is a group of veterans that have joined together to raise awareness about climate change. They advocate the development of clean energy and the end of dependence on foreign oil.

To be honest, I was skeptical about the event. What was the link between military service and climate change? My skepticism was quelled when I heard young veterans cite experiences during their service in Iraq and Afghanistan that could have been avoided if a clean energy source was available.

These veterans were joined by veterans from the area, Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty, and representatives from the offices of both U.S. Senator Casey, and U.S. Rep. Kanjorski.

I interviewd the area veterans and the representatives to get quotes for a story.

After the event, I headed back to the Scranton Edition office and wrote an article to be published immediately to the web, and an article to be published in the weekend paper.

This article is currently displayed here: http://www.timesleader.com/scrantonedition/news/Veterans__Energy_a_matter_of_national_security_10-25-2009.html?searchterm=bridget+saroff

A little background

saroffb2 — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:44:04 +0000

This semester, I am interning at the Times Leader Scranton Edition. For my first post, I thought that I would give some background about the paper and my responsibilites as an intern.

The Times Leader Scranton Edition is a branch of the Times Leader newspaper based out of Wilkes-Barre, Pa. The Scranton Edition is an up-and-coming weekly paper that will soon celebrate the anniversary of its launch one year ago.

The Scranton Edition covers news, sports, and human interest stories around Lackawanna County. The paper is often commended for its reporting of news and events that other local news outlets do not cover.

As an intern, I am usually assigned one or two stories per week, and am responsible for meeting with or conducting phone interviews with sources, researching the topic, taking photos and writing stories that are able to be published in the weekend paper. Stories are often posted to the web.

The Scranton Edition’s website is www.scrantonedition.com.