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<Reflection on internship at KAmerican Post>
Two intern reporters (Gahee Lee, HB Cho) worked at KAmerican Post during last summer (June ~ August, 2011). The following are their reflection on internship at KAmerican Post.
<HB Cho, University of Georgia graduate>
I really did not know what to expect from my internship at KAmerican Post. I was constantly traveling in the West Coast as part of my job at a nonprofit organization in the spring semester, so I had to rely entirely on email and phone conversations to search for an internship in the summer.
I knew that KAmerican Post was an internet-based news organization catering for the Korean American communities around the country, and the articles on its website were focused on social and political issues, unlike some other prominent Korean American media outlets I was more familiar with, which typically take a broader approach.
I was very interested in political mobilization and community service, so I was excited to work there. But what I just described was nearly the full extent of my knowledge about the organization.
The day after I came back from Los Angeles late May, I was in the KAmerican Post office learning about the newspaper and the organization behind it. KAmerican Post was the media arm of a community organization called Good Neighboring Campaign (GNC), which stimulates Korean Americans to get politically and socially involved in local communities.
The driving force behind it was a remarkable man, Mr. Sunny Park. He came to the United States in the 1970s when he was in his 30s with absolute nothing, and started doing whatever he could to make ends meet.
Purely out of drive and magnetic personality, Mr. Park became one of the most financially successful and politically well-connected people in Atlanta. His was a really quintessential American Dream success story. He founded GNC to address what he saw as a big problem in the Korean American community: isolation from the "mainstream" society, even among 2nd or 3rd generation Korean Americans.
As a source information to stimulate and assist Korean Americans to learn and think about ways that they can get involved, KAmerican Post carries stories about important social and political issues in the U.S., prominent Asian Americans and any other information useful for successful involvement and integration of Korean Americans in the American melting pot.
It started in 2009 and publishes around 10 articles each week with average readership in several thousands. I was one of two summer intern reporters along with Gahee Lee, an Emory University student.
As a relatively new outlet, KAmerican Post was experimenting with incorporating social network and other visual media like videos. As an intern reporter, my background and training in video production came in very handy.
I was able to work on every different aspect of the organization, from researching and reporting to video production and social network promotion. I also got to help out GNC with its various programs.
After the briefing and a few hours of discussions with KAmerican Post editor Mr. Joshua Lee, my first task was to write an article about a prominent Asian American. That would be a relatively easy task for me to complete and an opportunity for Mr. Lee to see my workflow and writing style. ‘I should be smooth sailing,’ I thought, and got right on to the job.
I decided to write about Cabinet Secretary Chris Lu, because not many people know about him although he is a key member of President Obama's core decision making group. There are a number of Asian Americans in key posts in the Obama Administration, and most of them are fairly well known.
I spent several hours researching about him, and wrote about his life and beliefs. It was easy, I thought, and I was more confident than I probably should have been. It actually took multiple revisions before I got the final O.K. from Mr. Lee. He flat out rejected my first draft and told me he didn't need a simple chronicle about Lu's life, because people can find that on his Wikipeida page. He told me that every article should have a punch, and articles that don't have no place on his publication.
I got back on researching some more about Chris Lu. He was successful lawyer and later political advisor before he joined Obama's Senate election campaign, but he was a relatively young guy and hasn't been in politics for very long.
So little more was available online than what I had already found. But I digged a gold nugget out of mud and found a very personally relatable interview Lu gave about the 2009 presidential inauguration day. He described the feeling of being in his tiny White House office for the first time while celebrations were taking place outside and calling his mother. Emotional, paternal, such very Asian thing to do, I thought, and that was just what I was looking for.
Mr. Lee seemed remotely happy with the addition, but he still didn't find that "punch." Upset and feeling defeated to some degree, I got rid of the entire article and reviewed all the information I had to rewrote the article from scratch. People say the first one is always the hardest, and it was certainly the case for me. I didn't anticipate that my first article would also be the most memorable, as well.
Once Mr. Lee OK'd my article and it was posted on the site after many revisions, I received a surprise email a couple days later from none other than Secretary Chris Lu himself, saying he enjoyed reading my article and I was a good writer.
Then it hit me, 'why didn't I interview this guy?' I did not give too much thought about actually interviewing him because after all, he must be real busy being the cabinet secretary and all, and probably never heard of my newspaper with few thousand readers. Obviously he wouldn't have time to be interviewed.
As it turned out, I overlooked the power of online media, that it can reach literally anyone, without having to be nationally recognized, and it can very well serve its niche audience. I responded that I admired his drive and pursuit of his beliefs, and asked if I could interview him if I write about Asian American leaders in the future. He said he'd gladly do it.
Working at KAmerican Post also taught me the importance of community. I got to write stories on various topics like the importance of municipal voting and community service. Talking with community leaders and organizers helped me develop a keen sense of the the intertwined nature of local, cultural and political communities, and the importance of action to build stronger communities that can be inclusive and powerful.
Working at a relatively smaller and younger news outlet with a great vision like KAmerican Post was a tremendous opportunity for me. It has allowed me to touch upon and learn about every aspect of online-based news outlets and their potential as a very effective communication tool.
<Gahee Lee, Emory University>
Lights, Camera, Articles
When I lived in Korea, I used to work as a child actor for KBS- the country’s largest TV station. And with each visit, I never failed to “accidentally” stray to the news wing of the building.
Fawning over the Teleprompters and neatly stacked papers, I dreamed of becoming an anchor myself.
Since then, ten years has gone by- ten years of dramatic changes and transformations. But through it all, my interest in the field of journalism remained. It was actually what brought me here to Atlanta, to attend Emory University.
Among other things, I had been drawn by the proximity of the CNN center and the possibilities that it offered.
From the start, I knew I was not exceptionally gifted at writing, that I was probably at a disadvantage for being an immigrant whose first language was not English.
But I did know that I loved to write; it was how I expressed myself. Thus, when I came across the opportunity to be an intern journalist at KAmerican Post, it seemed only natural that I seize it.
Little did I know that being a journalist demanded so much. The glamour of researching and attending exciting events quickly faded as the weekly deadlines and constant edits overwhelmed me.
Watching the day go by as I sat in front of my computer, only to ultimately come up with a new word or two, was frustrating to say the least. Lost in my desperation, I often found myself imagining myself typing out words as I would, keys on a piano.
So what kept me going? What made it worth it?
The actual process of writing.
Once I began to really write the articles, I became so immersed in wanting to see where the article would take me- or I would take it- that everything else became trivial. Words became like the different sections of an orchestra: all serving a unique purpose but working together to, hopefully, create a masterpiece.
As the writer, I assumed the position of a conductor and consequently had the power to wield readers to different directions. There were so many possibilities to be orchestrated.
Of course there was also the motivation that I was working for a real, applicable purpose- the goal of helping Korean immigrants adapt to the American culture. Had I sought to do the internship for my own selfish reasons, I probably would not have gone through with it.
But since I had had first hand experience of the difficulties of immigrant life, I had felt a moral obligation to do what I could, even if it was just by sitting in front of my computer, writing articles.
Though I had joined KAmerican Post with the intention of helping others, I feel as though I have gotten more out of it than I have given. I am grateful for having had the opportunity contribute to society while doing what I love most.
I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world. -Mother Teresa