No more interns!

[bootywright]

Don't get me wrong, I like interns. I mean, I REALLY like interns. The trouble is our station won't allow them in company vehicles for insurance reasons. Can you believe that?!

What, then, is the value of an internship? There's only so much you can learn sitting in the newsroom all day hanging out with some producer-dink. LAME-O! Out in the field is where it's at man! Especially if you're an aspiring reporter or photog.

Just wanna know if anyone else has similar rules. Do you think this is dumb? Does anyone know anything about basic insurance laws to know if this rule is even necessary?

Bring back the interns! And the mullet while were at it.

 

[<Shootblue>]

Having to help tell someone how to do parts of my job is distracting and annoying to me. Not worth my time.

 

[<zagg>]

Oh, I love misleading all of the interns. Go ahead, work in news, get paid peanuts, drink your life away, and shack up with some lawyer who shops you around like a trophy wife and never takes you out anymore.

 

[Shaky & Blue]

Originally posted by bootywright:
Does anyone know anything about basic insurance laws to know if this rule is even necessary?

It has nothing to do with insurance laws. It has to do with the insurance policy that your station bought. Generally speaking, the more restrictive the policy, the cheaper the policy, and vice versa. When your station goes for the cheapest coverage, they get more restrictions.

Most likely your station's policy is written in such a way that the intern can't be covered as an employee (since she isn't an actual paid employee), but also can't be covered under the liability coverage that protects people outside the vehicle because the policy doesn't allow non-employees to ride in the vehicles. If she were hurt in the vehicle, the insurance company would refuse to pay her claim because you violated the terms of the policy. Then she would sue the station for a billion dollars.

 

[SeagateNews]

I am an intern...I have to be in the newsroom until I'm 18...can't leave the station. it's not that uncommon, I had to bust my tail to get *this* opportunity...other stations in this market you have to follow the news trucks if you want to go out in the field...

Writing stories is the closest I can get right now, but it's something. That's why I freelance...lawyers can suck, it's the truth.

 

[SigLife]

Here...They can go with us, but they can't drive the vehicles. They also can't follow us to stories or drive to one's on their own, in their personal vehicles.

 

[<?>]

Originally posted by SigLife:
Here...They can go with us, but they can't drive the vehicles. They also can't follow us to stories or drive to one's on their own, in their personal vehicles.

Is this during their intern hours and they want to keep them at the station? What if after their "shift" is over, can they follow you then?

 

[2000lux]

Hey Bootywright, are you at WTIC or another station?

I think Tribune instituted the NO INTERNS rule nationwide after that accident in Texas(?). From what I heard, the only reason the interns survived there was that the reporter showed them what to do.

For a while we had a rule here that the interns just couldn't go on live shots. However, once it was pointed out that there was no garantee that the crew that they went out with wouldn't get broken from their story for breaking news (and thus a live shot), they put the kabash on interns going out with crews period!

It totally sucks. It makes internships pretty pointless, and I would welcome some help lugging the tripod, holding microphones, and naviguessing!

 

[sixtycyclehum]

I interned at a Granite station in spring of '04 and got a TON of experience. Fridays and Saturdays shooting sports and Sundays shooting news. I got to drive and I got to shoot everyday by myself or with one of the sports guys. On Sundays they would send me out to like four vo-sots!

I know for sure that my school (Illinois State) had some kind of insurance in case we broke a camera or something.

It was a great experience at it got me the job I have today.

 

[Buck]

If it weren't for my ride-alongs with photogs back in my intern days in the early 80's I probably wouldn't be where I am today.

Wait...is that a good or bad thing?

 

[Scannerhound]

At KAUZ-TV in 1999, nobody was allowed in station cars because the business manager forgot to renew the insurance.

 

[Code-3]

Well, I can say without a shadow of a doubt, that had it not been for the patience and trust of the photogs at my current station... I certainly wouldn't be working there today. Infact, I probably wouldn't be working in this city at all!

I learnt more in the seven weeks interning than the 2 years at my polytechnic institution (they were good too - but nothing beats hands on experience).

I would be more than happy to help mold the minds of potential photogs in the future.

[ January 01, 2005, 01:47 PM: Message edited by: Code-3 ]

 

[Run&Gun]

From what I've been told now, when I did my internship at WCNC in '96, I was the last one that was allowed to pick up a station camera(hell, I was allowed to take gear out by myself and shoot VO's and sports). If you can't use the stuff, how are you supposed to learn?! And they all seem to use the "Insurance" excuse, now. Bullsh!t. I can remember riding in the back of some vans that had no rear seats(old Astro's) and I'm still alive and never sued anyone. Some of these stations need to lighten up, a GOOD internship is the single best thing for someone seriously wanting in the biz.

 

[<iheartinterns>]

If it weren't for interns I would never have dates.

 

[Terry E. Toller]

I was once teaching a friend how to shoot news. He now works for a TV station and is doing very well, thank you.

My chief took away my take-home car for a week because he said the company rule was that no non-employees could ride in our cars.

A few days later I was doing a story with a reporter and we needed to go to another location with the person we were interviewing. The reporter opened the back door of my car and offered the man a ride. I put my foot down. No non-employees in the cars.

Of course, I got chewed out for that! It seems that the rule is capricious and some non-employees are OK and others aren't...

 

[Shaky & Blue]

Originally posted by Terry E. Toller:
I was once teaching a friend how to shoot news. He now works for a TV station and is doing very well, thank you.

As a PHOTOGRAPHER??!!

 

[s. curelo]

i hate interns.

if photogs could have contracts the first thing i would ask for is that i do NOT work with interns.

there is nothing worse than when the fresh batch of interns start and you must once again listen to how they all wish to be anchors, or worse don't really know what they want to do, "i just thought tv would be fun."

i love to explain my job over and over again to some kissass intern who can't grasp the concept of a white balance.

ban all of them.

 

[Run&Gun]

Your getting the wrong one's. Everyone loved me when I was an intern. I knew what I wanted to do, I knew how to do it(at least as much as you can in the begining), and I didn't kiss butt. I was a smart ass who cussed like a sailor, so naturaly I fit right in...

 

[shooterx2]

When I interned, I shot as much news daily as the full-time shooters, and ran the live trucks, making min-wage. The internships there are more like part-time work. I guess it just depends on how much involvement stations want you to have.

My current stations sends them out with the crews, sits them with the producers, but they don't get paid, and aren't allowed to touch equipment, but I take the initiative to teach them basic shooting skills anyway, just don't leave their side. I figure they shouldn't be punished because they are required to have internships, and if they have to spend their time on it, I might as well give them something to take with them when they're done.