Interning at CNN with Jess

Hi hi hi fellow Females of Filadelphia readers 🌻

Hope all of you are washing your hands/phones, staying inside and trying to stay positive during these crazy times. Today, I am super excited to bring another wonderful woman into the spotlight: Jess. 

About Jess

Jess is a junior, Political Science major at Temple University. She got to intern at CNN for Cuomo Prime Time this semester, before it got cut short due to the current global situation. Working in journalism during this period of time must have been extremely difficult and also eye-opening, and I hope all of you can learn a lot from this particular interview. 

Intro

V: Thanks for doing this interview while transitioning to online school and amid all the chaos going on right now! My first question is what made you go into your major? Did you always know that’s what you wanted to do?

Jess: I always knew deep down that I wanted to pursue a career in either politics or journalism but was too afraid to admit that to myself. Growing up, I was that kid who would love watching the news and learning about politics in school. In 2008, I remember, we had a mock election in elementary school and I was so fascinated by that. I remember watching Anderson Cooper give out election day results on TV and just being mesmerized at how the election process worked.  

As I got older and began thinking about what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, I began looking in the business route specifically Marketing and strayed away from choosing a career in politics or journalism knowing that it was my underlying passion. I told myself that I wanted a stable career and felt that business was a steady career. So when I applied to colleges, I looked at their business programs. Coming to Temple, I was originally a Marketing major at the Fox School of Business but during my first semester, I knew that I was not truly happy or passionate about business so I made the decision to switch to Political Science and have not regretted it since. 

Working at CNN

V: I did a bunch of switches during my college career, too, but eventually everyone finds their path. Speaking of paths, how did you find the opportunity to intern with Cuomo, what did that path look like? If there are students out there who want to have a similar internship, what would you recommend they do to find it and get it?

Jess: What a lot of people find shocking about how I found my internship with Cuomo Prime Time is that I just googled “CNN Internships” and applied for a bunch of them online without ever thinking that I would even have my application reviewed. After applying, there is a selection process to advance to a video interview and then a phone interview for the department you are interested in. 

For people who may be interested in applying for a similar internship, I would highly recommend just searching for various internships in these companies online. If you know which network and shows/teams within these networks you want to apply for within those companies, I would apply on the spot. For me, I think the biggest takeaway from going through these processes was just doubting myself along the way and just telling myself that I would never get these internships. A piece of advice would be to apply and remember that the worst thing an employer might say is “no.” 

V: Rejection is inevitable, but it’s important to apply to everything you can! And I think an important part to add to this is that you need to be prepared for opportunities with previous roles. I know you had various experiences before doing this internship, can you talk a bit about those?

Jess: I really think that my past two internships really prepared me well for my internship with Cuomo Prime Time. My first internship was my summer going into my Sophomore year at Temple with Senator Bob Casey’s re-election campaign. Going into that internship, I knew absolutely nothing about how running a federal campaign worked. I think one of the biggest takeaways from my time there was to always be adaptable in those types of environments. Through that internship, I was able to work closely with the Communications, Political, Finance and Research teams to help with pretty much everything that they needed. I was able to travel across various counties in Pennsylvania and help with planning rallies with Senator Kamala Harris, Vice President Biden and even President Obama. 

My second internship with Mayor Jim Kenney’s Communications Office was a different experience but really allowed me to focus on my writing skills as well as interpersonal communications skills as my job focused on creating content for that office through working closely with various City departments and serving as a liaison with constituents as well. Both of these positions really allowed me to experience politics from both the federal and local levels but also taught me fundamental skills from planning, research, writing and creating content that I was able to bring along with me to my internship this semester.

Opinions & Advice

V: Those are some pretty incredible roles. However for anyone reading this, I want you to know that you don’t always need to have such recognizable names or brands on your resume, you can also stand out by doing something a little different or standing out in your field. Switching gears a little bit, I want to take this interview to talk about something a bit ~controversial~. After interning, do you have any opinions about the media in today’s day and age? In recent years there has been a lot of talk about #fakenews, how do you view that after being in this space?

Jess: After this internship, I realized more of the importance of media in today’s day and age. I believe that as a country we are very polarized and have turned more to echo-chambers that tell us what we want to hear politically. We have strayed away from hearing other people’s opinions if they do not correspond with our own. I think prior to the 2016 election, we have never had a nation as polarized as we do now. 

With people who are serving in very important roles calling the media “fake news” just because it does not correspond with their political agenda is baffling to me. Journalists and other people in media industries have become targets and many times have to fear for their life for telling the truth and for people to call it “fake news” without understanding the repercussions that it entails is very saddening. I was never one to use the term “fake news” but to see other people use it whenever they share news that doesn’t appeal to them, because they see top officials do similar things, is very telling. Journalists have faced much scrutiny in recent years, and to ridicule their work is very upsetting. 

V: I have always strongly believed in listening to all sides of a story, so I definitely agree with you. In fact, one of the reasons I began this blog was to listen to people’s stories because it’s SO important to listen, regardless of where you stand on the issue. This leads me to my last question: What was your greatest learning from interning with Chris Cuomo? 

Jess: The greatest takeaway from my internship came from Chris himself, on the first day of my internship, which was “never be afraid to speak up”. He elaborated and said that if there was ever a story I wanted us to cover or an idea I wanted to pitch that I should always feel free to speak up and share that with him and the team. Every day moving forward, I always kept that with me and made sure that my voice was heard whenever I wanted to contribute ideas to the team. Jobs like this are collaborative processes between everyone and to have Chris and the team emphasize this to me and reiterate to me that my voice was being heard was something that I will take with me wherever I go. Whenever you feel like your voice doesn’t matter, remember that it always does. 

V: I love that! Whether you are interning for a semester or working full-time, learn to speak up because it benefits everyone in the long run. Thanks for using YOUR voice today to share some advice with people who might want to follow in your footsteps, Jess. To the readers, thanks for tuning in today and make sure to check back for more interviews and spotlights by following Females of Filadelphia on Instagram and Facebook 🙂