Academics

Student selected for highly competitive national journalism internship

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Each year, hundreds of college juniors, seniors and graduate students around the country apply for the highly competitive Dow Jones News Fund (DJNF) college internship programs. This year, Penn State continued its track record of landing students in the program.

James Madden, a senior journalism major, will complete a hands-on copy editing internship at the Hartford Courant in Connecticut through the DJNF interactive news editing program. Prior to heading to Hartford, Madden will complete a week of in-depth training May 24 to June 1 at Penn State under College of Communications faculty members John Dillon, the Norman Eberly Professor of Practice in Journalism, and Senior Lecturer Chris Ritchie. 

In addition to a minimum weekly salary of $400 for a minimum of 10 weeks, the DJNF also provides selected students with a $1,000 scholarship for those returning to school. Interns are chosen based on resumes, experience, performance on the DJNF tests, interviews, essays, and the needs of the media outlets. 

Since last year, the DJNF revamped its copy editing program and renamed it the interactive news editing program, emphasizing search engine optimization, page design, and responsive web design.

This year, the DJNF provided $405,600 in grants and operating expenses, with $334,600 being put toward its college programs, which includes Penn State’s interactive news editing training center. That training center, one of several supported by DJNF, will host Madden and other students selected for summer internships before they begin their internships.

The DJNF is a nonprofit foundation supported by the Dow Jones Foundation and other communications companies.

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Last Updated June 2, 2021