From USC to Fox News: An Intern's Improbable Journey
by Graeme Moore
edited by Doug Fisher

My journey as an intern in Washington, D.C., began with a simple, shot-in-the-dark e-mail to an employee of Fox News.

Surely he would have a spam folder or an assistant to sift through junk e-mail, but, as my reasoning goes, it was worth that shot. And as I learned later, my pesky plea for work at the Fox News Channel did, in fact, make the 500-mile journey to its final destination: Brit Hume’s inbox.

It took a few weeks for a response, but finally it came. However, it was from Hume's wife, Kim Hume, Fox News Channel’s Washington bureau chief.

"Fox News doesn’t typically hire for summer part-time work, and from your e-mail, it doesn’t sound like you could get a for-credit internship," she wrote. "Sorry to disappoint. Kim Hume.”

Disappoint? Are you kidding? I had actually made contact with both the managing editor and bureau chief for Fox Washington.

It wasn’t long – I’d say five minutes – before I was discussing with my adviser a way to receive academic credit for another internship. After talking with associate professor Sonya Duhe, we settled on an independent study: “Covering Politics in Washington.”

And so it was. The only hurdle left to cross was actually landing the internship with Fox News.

Let the e-mailing begin.

Resume and cover letter attached, an e-mail explaining my newfound situation went directly to Kim Hume.

Within a few days, she wrote back telling me to call her assistant to set up a phone interview. It was scheduled, but I wasn’t satisfied. I wanted to meet the bureau chief in person, and seven days later, I did. Instead of cavorting with cohorts on spring break, I took a red-eye to D.C. for – to date – the biggest interview of my life.

Fast forward to May 8, 2005. Pillows, a computer, clothes, some homemade cookies from mother and I all packed into an SUV making our way up Interstate 95. After hours of nothing but straight road and stagnant landscape, I made it to what the locals call "the District.”

It was a gorgeous midafternoon, but I never felt smaller. I was honked at more in that hour of trying to find my house than in all the times I had ever used my own horn. And so I learned my first rule about D.C.: If something doesn’t suit you, just honk.

I honked my way to East Capitol and Third streets and unloaded my car.

I was the first of 12 interns to arrive at my house that week, but luckily for me, I already knew some people in “the District,” so I wasn’t completely alone the first couple of nights.

My stint interning for “Special Report with Brit Hume” began with a hearty introduction by one of the producers who acted as our intern adviser and then a tour of the bureau – except that during the tour I was literally dumped off the line and into the middle of “Special Report’s” morning roundtable meeting.

It was well under way, so my entrance was especially noticed. I introduced myself to the 12-member staff, including Hume. "Where are you from, boy?" he asked in his booming, authoritative voice.

As confidently as possible, I replied, “South Carolina. I go to the University of South Carolina.”

“Great. Good to have you. Now, have a seat.”

So there I was, not sure of what to do next. Fortunately, everyone who worked for the show was extremely willing to help me get acclimated, and before a week’s time, I was one of them … sort of.

How well did the journalism school and the university at-large prepare me for this internship? I could not have been better prepared. The producers, writers, reporters – pretty much everyone I came in contact with was impressed with my knowledge of a working newsroom. And it wasn’t because I had been in many newsrooms, but because of the professors at USC.

There have been countless times in my collegiate career, before and after Fox, where I’ve sat in a journalism class and thought, "This isn’t possibly how the real news world works.”

And, oh, how wrong I was and still am.

But, how glad I am to have had professors like Dr. Duhe who preached (and I mean preached hard and long) the importance of deadlines and of clarity, precision and all the things that make a great writer. And I certainly respect my production teacher, Dr. Laura Smith, for her dogged persistence that we get every detail right, and for her teaching (and still teaching) me to think things through and get to the point quickly.

As I learned this summer, people at that level don’t have time for a two-minute minidissertation on how you found that tape. All they want to know is that you found the tape.

And how could I forget Doug Fisher, the copy-editing czar. It was tough making his 8 a.m. class twice a week, but in hindsight, I’m a much better journalist for it. For those who don’t think “print” copy-editing rules and broadcast-style writing overlap, I offer an argument: Numerous times I would question a writer’s usage or grammar, and many times the response was, “Graeme, you’re right.” You can imagine how that felt as an intern.

So as Dr. Smith might ask, “What’s the bottom line?”

My internship on “Special Report” was one of the most special experiences in my life. It was so much more than I ever expected. I was able to write, edit, go to news conferences, track “voice of translator" voice-overs, meet incredible people and sometimes just sit down and chat with journalists I look up to and respect.

It would take all of InterCom and more to tell you every great thing I learned or every fascinating thing I got to do, but I’d pay them for the chance to do it again.

I hope, however, that next time I’m at the Fox News Channel I won’t be an intern. Rather, I’ll be on the other side of the camera and finally able to say what I’ve practiced a hundred times: “At the White House, Graeme Moore, Fox News.”