A Murray Kempton internship at The Legislative Gazette prepares you to work for a daily newspaper or in other meaningful communication positions straight from college. How? You’ll be reporting on the bustling, influential political arena of the third largest state’s capital, in Albany, New York. You’ll attend press conferences and ask the governor of New York questions. You’ll work alongside reporters from the New York Times and NBC. Read Edward Carr’s recollection of his experience as a Murray Kempton intern at The Legislative Gazette:

by Edward Carr
People say the best way to learn is to do. I couldn’t agree more.

When I came to Albany, I knew almost nothing about New York state politics. Yet, there I was interning for a newspaper completely based around the goings on of the state legislature.

The very first day I started interning, right after I took off my jacket, I got assigned to write a story about how several good government groups were calling the legislature “the most dysfunctional in the nation.” To say I was nervous was probably a gross understatement. Sure, I had written articles before in class and I had a column in The Excelsior but this time, I was writing for a real newspaper. Everyone in Albany reads The Legislative Gazette.

The first thing I learned from writing for the paper was how dependent we, as journalists, are on the AP Stylebook. I heard it in all of my journalism classes so many times it became like a running gag. “See this?” a professor would ask, pointing to a stylebook. ‘This is your bible.” I have since realized the truth in these statements and agree that the AP Stylebook is packed with incredibly helpful information for all writers. I don’t think there’s been one day where I haven’t consulted my stylebook to see how to abbreviate colonel, if I should use a “%” or “percent, if I have to spell out a number, or to find out the difference between “affect” and “effect.”

Being a reporter writing about politics, I got a true sense of how journalists really are “the fourth estate.” We’re right in the thick of it, watching the watchers and sticking up for the little guy. I can’t say I’ve participated in any scandalous investigative reporting assignments but my participation in another assignment made me very excited to be a reporter. One of my beats was covering the stimulus money diverted into New York. Gov. David A. Paterson, in an effort to stimulate the economy and create jobs during the economic downturn, diverted much of the stimulus package money towards construction projects. My assignment was to see where it was being diverted, how much and how the people getting the money felt. I picked up the phone and talked with many local leaders from the towns, counties, cities and villages having construction projects funded. Surprisingly, most of them said the same thing. “We’re happy that Paterson decided to fund projects in our area but we really need the money for this different project instead,” they told me. One leader told me he would have preferred Paterson fund a revamping of his town’s sewage system as opposed to the resurfacing of a road. He told me, “When you wake up in the morning and your toilet won’t flush, that’s a problem.” Later I found out Paterson was diverting money to construction projects that affected and addressed local problems. Now, I’m not going to say I had any part in him doing this, because I probably didn’t, but it was nice to get a sense that the little guy got what he needed in the end.

Another thing I learned from my time here was how divided our great state is. When you’re downstate, you only get one side of the picture, the Democratic side. It turns out much of the state is red, very red (I also never realized how bad my accent was until I came up here but that’s a different story). The attitude of the legislators is very much “us vs. them.” The MTA debate in the legislature really opened my eyes to this. For one of my stories, I interviewed Assembly Minority Leader Brian M. Kolb, R-Canandaigua. He told me straight away his conference was not interested in things that in no way affected upstate residents; like the NYC subway system. Time and time again, it becomes more about “what’s good for me” as opposed to “what’s good for the state.”

This leads me to something else I observed while reporting for The Legislative Gazette. I used to think there was a gigantic difference between Democrat and Republican politicians. Looking at the New York state Legislature and how it works (or doesn’t work), I see they aren’t so different after all. Apart from a few core issues like abortion and gun control, they all seem to care about one thing, getting re-elected. Of course, that’s a generalization, but there seems to be a repeating cycle that occurs in Albany every year. It was always about the party in power squishing the rights of the party out of power and the party out of power complaining. Now, the Senate Democrats are increasing staff’s salaries and creating numerous ways to get the Democratic message out there, spending money that the state really doesn’t have. The Republicans are complaining. Last year, when Senate Democrats were in the minority, the Republicans were doing the same thing, increasing salaries and creating ways to get their message out there. The party even had its own print shop and TV studio at one time. Guess what? At that time the Democrats were complaining.

Working at The Legislative Gazette has, for better or worse, made me less of a Democrat and more of an Independent. As cheesy as it sounds, I think writing for The Legislative Gazette has made me a better American. Instead of blindly voting for a candidate because he or she has a “D” by their name, I’m now more likely to examine them closer and see what their views are before I cast my ballot.

Overall, writing for The Legislative Gazette was an outstanding experience and I would recommend it to anyone seeking a career in journalism. I’ve learned a lot and it will no doubt help me when I venture out into the “real world.” It definitely made me a better writer, journalist and citizen.
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(For more information, visit http://www.legislativegazette.com/internships.php, and then, if you’re interested, please contact Michael Arena, University Director of Communications and Marketing, CUNY, phone: (212) 794-5685, email: michael.arena@mail.cuny.edu.)