Are You Not Entertained?: Interning With USA Today Entertainment

What’s an entertainment intern without a selfie?

By Dean’s Intern Alexandra Korba, USA Today Entertainment

Hi there!

My name is Alexandra Korba and I am lucky enough to have the opportunity to intern with USA Today Entertainment this fall. A little background on me: I’m a senior at AU, double majoring in IR and Film. I’ve done various film and TV-centric internships before but never anything news based, though it’s always been high on my internship bucket list. Naturally, I was beyond stoked when the Entertainment section reached out to me to work with them. It’s been a perfect fit: I get to harness all my television/film/celebrity geekiness and translate it into articles that actually get published online! I have a whole page of bylines already and my portfolio is thanking me.

As I write this, I still can’t believe it’s already been a month that I’ve been here – as cliche as it sounds, the time has truly flown by, I’m never bored because there’s always a story to be had. My first day in the office I got to publish my first article (a hard-hitter about Tom Hardy’s scandalous MySpace photos) and couldn’t have been happier. I probably proofed the 100-word article 20 times before sending it to my supervisor. Now I write more and more every time I come in. The Entertainment team treats me like an employee (no intern coffee runs here!), letting me select my own pitches and add my own personal flair to each piece.

The rest of the office has also been overwhelmingly welcoming. The vibe here is nothing like the news offices you see in the movies. No offense to All the President’s Men, but I prefer the environment at USAT. I’ve already been tasked with a weekly piece that runs in the Sunday section of the paper (I can tell my grandchildren I wrote in an actual physical newspaper!) and have been offered tasks ranging from book reviews to filming interviews. I even have my own one-on-one interview coming up next week with a pretty sweet celeb. I’ll leave you in suspense as to who until my next post… to be continued.

Frankly, I’ve never been more excited for an hour and a half commute than I have this semester. USAT constantly challenges me, my coworkers truly treat me like a coworker and hey, they have donut Thursdays in the office. Here’s to the next 3 months.

I learned (after some initial confusion) that TEGNA is the new digital sector of Gannett, which owns USA Today.

This is where they film interviews in the office. Goals.