Getting into the groove

After a whirlwind of the first week, it was already time for week two of my internship at PublicSource. With Labor Day being on Monday, I found it a little hard to get into the grove of the work week, especially with balancing all my other work.

On Tuesday, I got to work remotely. I met online with the city council reporter to discuss a few bills being introduced that I want to help cover for one of my first stories. I also narrowed down some story ideas and worked on a detailed pitch about AI in schools. I also watched a Pittsburgh city council meeting on Wednesday and focused on two bills being passed regarding gender-affirming care, something that I will be turning into my first story.

I was back in the office on Thursday and hit the ground on the gender-affirming care story. I got to talk for the first time with a city council member, which was oddly not as intimidating as I imagined; it sounded like the one member I talked to was in their car. I also talked with the mayor's communications director, which was the perfect person to talk to for this piece, as she is the first trans woman press secretary for the city. I started drafting my story and reaching out to other council members and local LGBTQIA+ organizations to further round out the story. I also was able to attend my first "lunch and learn" session, which talked about the general timeline for different types of stories and the plan for when a breaking news story occurs. We also had our weekly intern meeting where we discussed a service the outlet provides. It is called Board Explorer, and it keeps everyone updated on appointed boards in Allegheny county and the city of Pittsburgh. I also started working on the background information on some of the newly appointed local board members.

I hope next week is an even better week!