The next generation of journalists

Our 2010 summer interns have arrived at The Oregonian and already they're making a splash. This past Monday was the first day of work for the first wave. Three of the reporters landed front-page stories and one of the photographers turned in an artsy photo that made the cover of Metro.

Until a couple years ago, I was intimately involved with the recruiting, screening and selection of these talented young folks. Now, I'm in more of a support role, sharing what I know with the managing editor in charge and still helping to select the finalists.

We have a combined 15 interns at the moment, 10 for the summer and five in one-year positions. I have no doubt that parents, friends and peers have questioned the sanity of these kids for their decision to pursue journalism in the face of huge technological change, declining newspaper readership and a crunching recession. But I also have no doubt that these young people have the fire in the belly to persevere and the intelligence to adapt to what journalism now demands: a well-rounded set of skills that includes old-fashioned reporting, writing and interviewing (with a premium on accuracy, speed and fairness) and the ability to shoot video, capture audio and navigate every aspect of the internet.

I met one of the student photographers, Arkasha Stevenson, a senior at the University of North Carolina, as I was riding the elevator on Wednesday. She'd written to me months ago asking to whom she should direct her application materials. I made the referral and wished her luck and that was the last I heard of things until we came face to face this week. She's the one who, on her first day, made a great photo of workers setting up rides at Waterfront Village (above).

Later that afternoon, I was headed toward the elevators, ready to go home, when I heard a tiny voice ask if I was George. It was a bright-eyed, dark-haired young woman, maybe 5 feet tall, who turned out to be Carolina Hidalgo, a junior at Stony Brook University on Long Island, whom I'd interviewed by phone and enthusiastically recommended to the rest of the selection committee.

She was doing a feature story that day on a Vietnam veteran who was receiving a handful of war medals long overdue. Arkasha wound up shooting a video:
http://videos.oregonlive.com/oregonian/2010/05/john_parish_a_vietnam_veteran.html

On Friday, I learned Carolina has been assigned to talk to Simone about a scholarship program that our daughter helped create for students at alternative high schools who've overcome significant barriers enroute to their high school diploma or G.E.D. Small town, Portland.

Today, Carolina was in the office -- on her day off -- interviewing a student for that story. Impressive. I look forward to seeing what she comes up with and I look forward to seeing another class of interns flourish. They are, after all, the next generation of journalists.