Summer 2023 News Producer Intern
Every year, The Seattle Times offers a series of paid summer internships to outstanding students eager to build a career in journalism. For 10 weeks, our interns have the privilege to work closely with members of our Pulitzer Prize-winning staff members on a variety of real-world assignments as employees of our established, renowned metropolitan newspaper and website. This summer, you could be paid to train in your chosen profession at the Northwest’s leading daily news media organization.
The News Producer Intern has a primary focus on social media storytelling, audience engagement and subscriber acquisition and retention. The right person for this role is equally excited about advocating for audiences’ needs and interests as they are for promoting the journalism coming from our newsroom. This position will spend the summer doing the following (and more!):
- Shadowing and working on our digital audience team to understand the role analytics play in publishing strategies as well as curating and producing the key Seattle Times channels, such as the homepage, mobile app, social media, news alerts and email newsletters.
- Collaborating with various newsroom teams to develop creative and innovative ways to engage new and potential audiences on social media.
- Learning about subscription-driven publishing strategies. Shadowing various newsroom producers to learn about various specialties within the content production field.
Internships are available to Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors (including graduating Seniors) attending a four-year college or university, as well as graduate students. Applicants must be journalism majors or have a demonstrated commitment to print or online journalism, possess social media skills, and be digitally astute. Internship experience at other news organizations is strongly preferred.
As an intern on the News Producer desk, you will develop, edit and format content for Seattle Times digital products with an emphasis on audience engagement and seek innovative ways to tell and promote stories. This individual is a core member of our digital audience team and plays a crucial role in maintaining our connections with readers as well as drawing in new ones. The successful candidate will be a big-picture thinker who also pays attention to detail, has expertise in web and mobile analytics, is a strong communicator, loves problem-solving, champions diversity, equity and inclusion in coverage, and exhibits nimbleness, diplomacy, productivity, news judgment, sensitivity and taste.
Schedule: Some weekend work may be required.
Compensation: The salary range for this position is $18.69/hour to $18.69/hour.
Responsibilities
- Learning about and monitoring trends and readership analytics in real time and providing feedback to inform newsroom posting strategy. Conduct research on social media trends to help inform social strategy and deepen engagement with online audiences.
- Learning how to curate content on the homepage, news app, news alerts, social media and other digital platforms.
- Creating Seattle Times social media content and engaging with readers.
- Endorsing and supporting efforts to provide inclusive coverage to reach our audience.
- Considering and suggesting ways to include voices from under-represented communities.
- Working closely with all departments across the newsroom on story planning and promotion.
- Participating in discussions of newsroom digital and social media strategies.
- Strategizing and implementing the adoption of digital best practices across the newsroom.
- Assisting in managing and executing the newsroom's social media strategy, including planning and scheduling content on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others.
Qualifications
If you meet most but not all of the qualifications listed, you may still be a candidate for this position. We encourage you to showcase any additional skills and unique experience as it relates to the role and its objectives. We are committed to diversity and creating an inclusive newsroom and encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply. Strong preference is given to those applicants who specifically demonstrate an understanding of and commitment to the importance of diverse cultural backgrounds and experiences in newsrooms.
- The ideal intern candidate should be passionate about news, and have an interest in social media trends for non-personal accounts on established and emerging social media platforms.
- Must be a Sophomore, Junior, Senior, or graduating Senior attending a four-year college or university, or a graduate student.
- Familiarity with tools for web publishing and analytics, such as WordPress a plus.
- Experience in non-personal use of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other social media.
- Strong knowledge of AP style, news judgment and journalistic ethics.
Benefits:
- Paid holidays
- Subsidized transit card
- Complimentary Seattle Times subscription
Application Instructions
- Complete and submit your application below. We will only accept applications submitted through this page – applications mailed via USPS, as well as emails and calls, will not be considered.
- When attaching your resume and cover letter, please use the following naming convention: Internship-Document-ApplicantName. Example: NewsProducer-CoverLetter-JohnDoe.
- Submit three references familiar with your work (with at least one reference being a current or former manager or supervisor).
- Include five samples of your work that best exemplify your experience as it relates to this role. Please include this as one file, with any associated links included being accessible and not behind a paywall.
- Confirmation: You will be notified via email once your application has been received. Check your file size before submitting. You will not receive a confirmation email if your file size exceeds the 10MB limit.
Please do not follow up about your application. We will notify all applicants about our decision after the deadline, which may take up to six weeks. For application assistance only, send questions to internships@seattletimes.com. Requests for updates will not be answered.