Exploring Public Media at Current.org

By Dean’s Intern Ivy Kaplan at Current

Since stepping into the Current newsroom on day one, I’ve felt more professionally acknowledged and empowered as a journalist than ever before.

For those who don’t know, Current is a trade publication focusing on public broadcasting throughout the U.S. (think PBS, NPR, etc.) While my lack of knowledge on the ins and outs of public broadcasting intimidated me at first, within the first few weeks of my role as an editorial and reporting intern, I’ve already learned so much.

Each morning I participate in our newsroom budget meeting where I update editors on my work and am assigned new stories. Since I’m usually assigned to 2 or 3 stories at a time, I always have plenty to work on. After these meetings, the remainder of the days are filled with research, coordinating and conducting phone interviews from all over the country and double-checking AP style books as I write my pieces up.

So far, some of my favorite pieces that I’ve written included an article about my hometown station, Minneapolis Public Radio, providing content to audiences in Somali and another article I pitched myself about how Facebook algorithm changes are impacting public media digital engagement strategies.

Although the editorial team at Current is fairly small, the direct access to my editors and to connections they have in the realm of public media have been invaluable. I’m so thankful to have gotten this opportunity, and can’t wait to see what else I learn during my next few months here!