Job Siren: 'L.A. Times' Internship
Our city's paper has a venerable, vaunted program for writers just like you. Deadline: October 15
My daughter is very close but hasn’t yet outgrown the charms of the Santa Monica Pier. The other day, while she rode the rollercoaster yet again, I watched a young girl of about four years old tugging on and then batting a helium-filled balloon from Disneyland. Her younger sister or cousin or apparent relative of some kind was in a stroller, whining, the balloon loosely tied to the stroller’s handle. The whining was earning the attention of what I assume were the pair’s parents. Perhaps wanting to gain some of that attention for herself, the older girl batted the balloon again, harder. Suddenly, the knot started to come loose. The balloon caught a breeze, twisted up, just out of reach of anyone, and as the string came totally untied it floated up and up, higher and higher in the sky. Watching—it’s really quite majestic, the way they float, but also horrible for turtles and birds, et al—I held my breath, wanting to see what how small group of human beings would react. The little girl? Knowing what she’d done, she looked down at her shoes. The parents shared the briefest look, but to my relief and surprise they said nothing. The toddler in the stroller: She stopped whining.
It was an incredible moment, and yet there was another set of experiences, at the hospital yesterday, waiting to pick up a member of my family. (Don’t fret; it was a routine procedure and all is well.) The waiting room was full of the kinds of spouses and loved ones who come to such places. Over three hours, from drop off to pickup, I had various chances to watch how people act. The sweet way a man mumbles, Yes, he is Jose, and the way he gently takes his slightly dazed lady’s hand and walks her around the couches and into the hallway. The elderly gentleman, fumbling with his flip phone, on a way-too-loud speaker, listening to his wife, who is struggling to make sure he made it upstairs ok. “I’m going to Costco now,” she says. “What?” he says. “I’m going to Costco.” Then he smiles, nods, and says: “I appreciate you, I appreciate you.”
Anyhow, if you like true stories and believe in news you should apply to this internship at The Los Angeles Times! I’ll be happy to help you. Just let me know!
Interested in working with some of the best journalists around? We offer 10 weeks of intensive, hands-on experience in a region where big stories are the norm. We place interns throughout the Los Angeles Times: Metro/Local, Entertainment and Arts, Sports, Politics, Business, Features/Lifestyle (Fashion, Food, Travel, Home Design, Plants), Foreign/National, Editorial Pages/Op-Ed, Photography, Video, Data and Graphics, Design, Digital/Engagement, Podcasting and in our Washington, D.C., and Sacramento bureaus. (Our multiplatform editing intern comes through the Dow Jones News Fund’s national selection process, and that deadline is Nov. 5.) These are paid internships and placements usually run from June to late August. We are also again offering spring internships for Southern California students. We do not have a fall internship program.
The deadline to apply for the 2022 Spring or Summer Internship Programs is Oct. 15, 2021. Applicants for spring will receive an email notification of the committee’s decision by Dec. 31, 2021. Summer internship applicants will be informed by Feb. 15, 2022. Click here to access the application site or scroll down for links to the individual applications.