Description

In Chapter 4 of 18, University of Michigan undergraduate college experiences, including college writing classes, small sport color radio broadcasting, and public relations interaction, help Jen Duberstein get hired into college sports media & broadcasting internships. Duberstein, now a Major League Soccer attorney, shares the importance of developing craft by covering smaller sports, in preparation for future large sport opportunities.

Transcript

How University Activities Help to Land a Media Internship Erik Michielsen: Knowing you want to be a sport’s journalist and making the decision to attend University of Michigan, how did you access those various inputs including the school newspaper, the radio station and the classroom structure to put yourself in position to move forward doing sports course? Jennifer Duberstein: I don’t think you necessarily have to pick sports as a major or journalist as a major, you have to pick something that you find interesting because what you use will teach you the same things. I learn how to write my papers in the communication class. So I had a couple that was journalism related but nothing that really focused on it, it was more of the after school or the extra-curricular activities that helps. In my first semester I signed to write for the Michigan Daily and I still have contacts from those long nights editing. I definitely did not become the editor of the sport’s section or the editor of the Michigan Daily as a whole, but I learned how to work on a team, learned what went into writing an article, covering sports. I learned to handle the PR and sport’s information deskwork and that all helped when I went to work at PR after school because I learned what the role of the writer was and I learned how a public relation per se help them. So that was on one side. I also worked for the radio and it just taught you how to pay attention to all different sports. I wasn’t following football, I wasn’t following hockey but I did cover for the women’s basketball team and the women’s field hockey team, and I think that was very helpful in learning to appreciate that there is more than just one same sport leaving at school like Michigan and starting out in sports. You don’t always get to cover the big profile sports. So when I had summer internships for the George Michael Sport Machine, I didn’t end to cover the Baltimore Oriels or the Washington Redskins Training Camp, I might have gone to a golf tournament that Tiger Woods wasn’t even playing that yet. So you learn the art of your craft by working on smaller ticket items and then you work your way up. So when the football job comes in your way you're ready.