Intrepid Interns

CNN internship an 'invaluable' experience

by Sarah Chakales

"Yeah, I’ve heard about you."

The first words out of Wolf Blitzer’s mouth left me a tad stunned and frozen in place. It was my first day and I had made it a point to stop by his office to introduce myself before I got caught up in other work. My feelings of surprise and confusion must have been evident by the expression on my face.

"It’s OK," he assured. "I received an e-mail from Charles [Bierbauer] not long ago telling me what a great addition you’d be to the team. I hope you realize that I expect great things from you now."

And with this brief exchange so commenced my three-month internship with CNN’s "The Situation Room" in Washington, D.C.

A typical day was as follows: Come in promptly at 11 a.m. for the morning meeting; pick up the tapes from the previous night’s show to catalog in the library; do some pre-show research, either for correspondent Zain Verjee or the Internet team; distribute the Hotline; help the correspondents track their packages, if necessary; and log tape, possibly dub tape, and log more tape. Some days I was able to follow a producer out in the field.

My duties dwindled in the evenings so I would often alternate my time between the studio and the control rooms, observing and absorbing as much as possible.

Some of my internship’s most memorable moments took place in the studio. It was there that I met former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Ramsey Clark, the former U.S. attorney general working on Saddam Hussein’s defense team.

It was also there that I first learned of South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer’s plane crash, eavesdropped on two correspondents joking about the differences between the sex lives of President and Mrs. Bush and Bill and Hillary Clinton, and received hair advice from Paula Zahn’s stylist.

Other general highlights included chatting with Sen. John McCain in the makeup room before an interview, meeting Larry King and Anderson Cooper, having a very deep conversation with senior political correspondent Candy Crowley on how to balance career with family, and taking a trip to New York City to observe the ins and outs of the CNN bureau there. I was even daring enough to join the CNN softball team, lovingly referred to as the CaNiNes, despite lacking any previous softball experience.

Every day was unique and special. It felt like in the blink of an eye my time at CNN had come to an end. My last week happened to coincide with the one-year anniversary of "The Situation Room." In recognition, we all piled into the studio for a celebratory champagne toast and cake. It was the perfect conclusion to an incredible summer.

The experience was truly invaluable and only further solidified my desire to pursue a career in the broadcast industry. Even now that I’m back at school, I still try to catch the show when I can. I miss the people most of all, especially Wolf and all his silly sayings. My favorite was, "Are you feeling strong?" He would ask everyone that question several times a day in an effort to pump up the energy for the show. If I had the opportunity to talk with Wolf today, the first thing I’d tell him would be, "I’m feeling strong and it’s due in large part to my wonderful three months working for you."

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Sarah Chakales is a senior broadcast journalism major from Richmond, Va. She plans to return to Washington, D.C. to pursue work in any journalism capacity that she can. A reporting job would be ideal.