Posted on: Sunday, August 8, 2004

AFTER DEADLINE
Internship at newspaper as revealing as a backstage pass

By Carrie Ching

When I was offered a reporting internship at The Honolulu Advertiser this summer, I jumped at the chance.

I figured it was a great opportunity to sharpen my writing and reporting skills and test myself out in the world of daily news.

But most of all, I took it as a rare opportunity to peel back the skin and see the internal workings of my hometown newspaper.

In the end, it was kind of like dissecting that pickled frog in sixth-grade biology class: Messy, yes. Even gross at times. But always fascinating and sometimes awe-inspiring.

In two months as a reporter on the city desk, I think I learned almost as much about Hawai'i's local culture and politics as I did living in the Islands for 20 years. Because as a reporter, your job is to knock on doors, ask questions and probe beneath the surface.

It can be nerve-wracking, but I think it is exactly that license to ask questions that keeps me coming back for more. Want to know why the mayor passed a certain bill? Just call him up and ask. Ever wonder how the city's trash-burning H-Power plant works? Go down and see for yourself.

In some ways it is the ultimate backstage pass.

Working the phones is one way to get information, but going out into the world to talk to "real" people is where reporting gets really interesting. Hanging out at Kalihi Palama housing, I met a young mother who was raising four kids on her own, yet still found time to run a Polynesian dance troupe for kids and volunteer at the project's family service center.

Down at the courthouse I spoke to several teary-eyed immigrants who, moments before, had acquired their much sought-after U.S. citizenship. Interviewing family members of a man who died on the beach in Hau'ula was uncomfortable and scary, but I think they were glad to have someone to talk to.

It's a challenge to put yourself in people's faces, to ask hard questions in situations like these. But in the end you realize that some people really value having a witness to their pain, and their triumphs.

Looking back on the summer, I know there are definitely a few things I will miss:

• Hearing 50 Cent's "In the Club" fill the newsroom every time business reporter Dan Nakaso's cell phone rings.
• Health writer Robbie Dingeman's incredible fudge brownies.
• My friend, TT40 the injured monk seal, whose story I followed for several weeks.
• The rush of reporting on deadline.
• And the phone calls, e-mails and cards from readers who were engaged enough in my articles to respond and give feedback.

Carrie Ching is a graduate student at the University of California at Berkeley whose family lives in Kailua.