Telling the Stories of Public Media at Current

By Dean’s Intern Savanna Strott at Current

Savanna StrottI have been the editorial intern at Current for almost 3 months now. Current is a national trade publication for people working in public media. When I get a new assignment or I pitch a new story to my editors, I have to think about what the people in public media would want to know about this topic. This has been challenging but has taught me to think critically about my audience, which will carry over to any publication I work for.

My favorite thing about working at Current is the responsibility I have in creating my own schedule. The only daily task is the morning huddle where the team updates each other on where our stories are at and what we plan to do that day. After that, it’s up to me to schedule what I need to do. Sometimes it’s interviewing, sometimes it’s researching my topic, sometimes it’s writing my story, and sometimes it’s looking through and applying edits. I have to be self-motivated and decide what I need to do for my stories.

Throughout this experience, my editors have given me great direction and feedback that has improved my reporting and writing. I can already see a big difference in my first story to now. I’ve written about an upcoming environmental radio show in Indiana, a campaign to increase public-affairs programming in Massachusetts, and a project that seeks to document the history of my hometown of Las Vegas. I’m currently working on several projects, and I’m excited to continue telling the stories of public media for the rest of the semester.