Business journalism students intern around country

Thirteen business journalism students of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University will intern this summer at major news organizations around the country.

The students, who will be working in newsrooms at Bloomberg, Forbes.com, the Los Angeles Times, CNBC, the Boston Globe and others, are part of Cronkite’s business journalism specialization, funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation.

The business journalism specialization, launched two years ago, combines journalism classes at the Cronkite School with courses in business and economics at ASU’s W. P. Carey School of Business. Students graduate with the critical skills to report on business, finance, real estate and the stock market.

As part of the program, the students compete for the summer internships at top media companies, providing work portfolios and proving their skills and knowledge through various tests. The media organizations, working in conjunction with the Cronkite School, select the final candidates.

The business journalism specialization and internship program is led by Andrew Leckey, the Cronkite School’s Reynolds Endowed Chair in Business Journalism and the president of the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism headquartered at ASU, which provides professional development to professional business journalists.

“The opportunity for students to connect with the finest news organizations is a great honor,” Leckey said. “We are especially proud of the fact that the Cronkite School is providing knowledgeable and skilled business journalism interns in print, online and broadcast. We live in a multimedia world in which business journalism has no boundaries.”

Justin Doom, a December master's graduate who specialized in digital media entrepreneurship and business journalism, said the latter especially prepared him for the internship with Bloomberg News in New York that led to his hiring there as a reporter.

“Without the business specialization, Bloomberg isn't at ASU. And I'm not at Bloomberg. It's really that simple,” Doom said. “The business classes helped prepare me for the internship, which, in turn, prepared me for the job, but the greatest strength of the business specialization is the opportunities it provides students not just to learn but to prove what they've learned at the world's top news organizations.”

Leckey said the Cronkite School program benefits more than just the students and the companies who participate.

“Our ultimate goal is to provide strong business journalists to help better explain the intricate and sometimes questionable financial practices that are having an impact on our world,” Leckey said.

Dean Christopher Callahan said the Reynolds business journalism specialization has quickly become an integral part of the Cronkite School.

“Journalists who can understand the complexities and nuances of business and finance are in great demand, and that demand is only increasing,” Callahan said. “These students represent the very best young business journalists in the country.”

“Professor Leckey is responsible for the enormous success of this program,” he said . “He not only designed and launched the program in record time, but he is a superb instructor and an inspirational mentor who is relentless in placing his students in the very best news organizations in the nation.”

Another eight students are currently wrapping up spring semester internships through the program.

Summer 2011 Business Journalism interns

Joshua Armstrong, Bloomberg News
Daryl Bjoraas, Fox Business
William D’Urso, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Eric Gembarowski, CNBC
Yvonne Gonzalez, Phoenix Business Journal
Christine Harvey, Seattle Times
Kaivan Mangouri, Boston Globe
Lindsay Nadrich, CNBC
Elvina Nawaguna-Clemente, Arizona Republic
Victoria Pelham, Bloomberg News
Salvador Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times
Austen Sherman, MarketWatch
Blake Wilson, Forbes.com

Spring 2011 Business Journalism interns

Justin Doom, Bloomberg News
William D’Urso, Arizona Republic
Christine Harvey, Phoenix Business Journal
Jennifer Johnson, Bloomberg News
Molly Kissler, Bloomberg News
Rebecca McClay, Bloomberg News
Victoria Pelham, Phoenix Business Journal
Cullen Wheatley, New Orleans Times-Picayune