The Pittsburgh Media Partnership oversees a robust paid summer internship program in which local university students are placed with Partner news outlets for 10 weeks. The application period for the Summer 2023 program is now closed, and 11 interns were chosen to work at 10 partner outlets. For future reference, candidates should be at least 18 and enrolled at a college-level institution or a recent graduate. The full-time internship is paid at $15/hour, up to 30 hours a week. It will last eight weeks between May and August.

For more information, please contact PMP Coordinator Frank Garland at fgarland@pointpark.edu and use PMP INTERNSHIP in the subject line.

During the 2022 summer session, 13 interns produced more than 230 bylined stories and photos for their respective outlets. One intern was offered a full-time reporting position following his summer internship and another landed a position at an NPR outlet in Tennessee during her internship.

In addition to placing interns with Partner outlets, we asked each of the Partner newsrooms to lead weekly training sessions so they were giving back to the program while also benefitting. The cohort model worked well by creating linkages among the interns so they end up supporting each other through the program and, we expect, beyond.

What the interns say about their summer experience:

Alice Crow, Gazette 2.0

“This internship truly gave me a glimpse into what it would be like to pursue a career in journalism. As an intern at Gazette 2.0, I was treated like a staff member and got the full experience of working for a local newspaper. Now with this internship under my belt, I’m confident this is the career I will continue to pursue.”

Ladimir Garcia, Pittsburgh City Paper

“[This internship] greatly impacted my decision to keep pursuing print and online journalism. Before I started my internship at City Paper, I was actually going through a rough spot with my decision to pick journalism as a major. But this internship got me excited again and reminded me why I chose to pursue a career in journalism. Working with Lisa and the City Paper staff made me realize how it can be fun to work as a journalist, while at the same time covering important issues.”

Jake Dabkowski, Pittsburgh Institute for Nonprofit Journalism

“Working with PINJ helped me really grow as a journalist from viewing myself as a student to viewing myself as a professional. In general, for the first time, I felt confident calling myself a journalist as opposed to a student journalist, and it solidified my decision to pursue a career in this field. I truly loved working with PINJ and want to give a huge shout-out to everyone on the team there, especially Brittany [Hailer]. She has been instrumental to my growth this summer, and I could never have done the things that I did without her.”

What the Partner outlets say:

Bill Hartlep, Triblive.com, on intern Antonio Rossetti:

“Antonio Rossetti was a great asset to the sports department this summer. He helped during some of our busiest times. He helped cover the WPIAL baseball championships and helped with our postseason awards stories. He also was very helpful with our high school football preview content this August. We have nearly 150 stories that needed written and it was great to have an enthusiastic journalist available to write those features. He was very flexible with his assignments and willing to write about anything, from high school sports to motocross to the Liberty Mile and local karate.”

Jeremy Sellew, Mon Valley Independent, on intern Liam Belan:

“With a minimal staff, having Liam join the mix really allowed us to increase our sports output. His ability to add to the day-to-day output, on top of filling a void of writing some feature stories that were forced to the back burner due to other things arising was much needed. He also helped us fill a void as a broadcaster with the fledgling MVI Live sports hub. Our coverage over the summer was top notch and Liam was a big reason why. It allowed everyone to increase output.”

Toby Tabachnick, Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, on intern Ethan Beck:

“It was extremely helpful to have a PMP intern on board this summer. We are very short-staffed, and Ethan was able to turn around an average of three stories a week, which was terrific. Especially during the summer, when our staff writers had taken some time off for vacation, Ethan was able to fill in the gaps. Also, Ethan brought along some good story ideas that added a lot to our coverage.”