Not So Good News

A little over a week ago I was hit with some not so good news. My internship site, Tribune Broadcasting, is closing down their Washington bureau. That day at work was pretty strange. When I went into work (it was a Friday), I noticed everyone was there, which was out of the norm because typically everyone works different shifts. I sat at my desk as usual and saw that they were gathering for a meeting in the conference room. Usually, meetings are at about 5 pm each day, and are held to discuss the rundown of the news events. The other intern and I are allowed to sit in those meetings. During this meeting, though, they didn’t need me to attend.

Two very professional people I never seen before also showed up for the meeting. I continued sitting at my desk while doing some logging and wondering what was going on. Well, after about 20 minutes the meeting was over. My coworkers came out the room with a completely different expression on their faces. Some went to their offices to use the phones and some left the building. The mood felt really weird, and it was so quiet I could hear a pin drop. I noticed everyone was no longer doing any work and I was starting to get concerned. After a while, my supervisor explained the situation to me; everyone had two weeks before the place would be closed down.

He informed me that for the next two weeks I should get as much done as I could to put together my demo reel. He and my other coworkers were willing to continue to work with me in finishing my projects and learning as much as possible in the next two weeks. I felt really thankful for that, but felt sad too. I had just witnessed them basically losing their jobs and felt helpless.

The bureau closing also means I’ll be out of an internship, which sucks too. I really liked Tribune, the employees and enjoyed everything I worked on and learned from. For about a month, from beginning to end, it was a learning process, and I was looking forward to doing bigger projects and making more progress with Tribune. I’m very thankful for having had the opportunity to intern with Tribune, and I wish all of its employees the best.

For me, the hunt for another internship has been ongoing. My Washington Center program advisor has been doing a great job in her search, and we hope to land an internship soon. The past week has been a bit frustrating, but I’ve been taking these things--good and bad--as a learning experience (taking the advice I received at our initial TWC orientation). So, I’m sure things will work out for the best.