Journalism & Media Relations InternAt — Orange County Riptide
The Orange County Riptide, a collegiate wood bat summer baseball team playing games at the Great Park in Irvine, California, seeks interns with strong knowledge and understanding of sports reporting, journalism and media relations.
The Journalism & Media Relations Intern will assist in providing content for the team, game-day programs and various local media outlets. This intern will work to promote our team to the public while exemplifying professionalism and the willingness to grow the Riptide’s media presence.
Please Note: This un-paid internship position will require your attendance at home games in Irvine, Calif. This is not a position that can be performed remotely.
If you are attending college outside of the Orange County, Calif. area, you must make your own living arrangements for the summer. The OC Riptide cannot provide housing for out-of-the-area interns.
In lieu of compensation, academic credit is available for this internship. Academic credit is not guaranteed and is dependent upon your school’s requirements and terms. Check with your school’s Internship Coordinator BEFORE accepting the hiring offer to determine if this position satisfies the criteria for receiving academic credit.
Interns chosen for this position will need strong critical thinking skills, excellent writing and self-editing skills, ability to work in a fast-paced environment, take direction easily and quickly, willingness to work nights and weekends, work well with hard deadlines and have a passion for the sport of college baseball.
Ideal candidates will be a Communications or Journalism major already working for a college Sports Information Office or school newspaper. Be prepared to submit writing samples, preferably baseball related writing samples, to be considered for this position.
Because this position requires attendance at home games and some road games, (40+ games spanning from June through early August) applicants are expected to work approximately five (5) hours per game. This includes pre-game, in-game and post-game photo editing, article writing and conducting interviews.
Ideal candidates will have knowledge of the game of baseball and knowing the differences that are unique to college baseball and summer collegiate baseball. Being open to feedback, direction and new approaches on how to cover a collegiate summer baseball team is a must. Interns selected for this position must understand this is more than just game reports and recaps. This job includes feature stories outside of the play on the field and involves other aspects of promoting the OC Riptide Baseball Club.
Duties for the Journalism & Media Relations Intern will consist of, but not be limited to:
Requirements
Journalism major or similar field
Quality and accuracy of work including proofreading
Must be available for all Riptide home games (which include weeknights, weekends, and possibly holidays)
Must be available for any Riptide related special events
Completion of assigned tasks on schedule and able to meet strict deadlines
Cooperation, responsiveness, dependability, and proper attitude in dealing with others including co-workers, coaches, players and fans
Conformance to company personnel, safety, quality, and housekeeping policies, procedures, and practices
Effective written and verbal communication skills
Comfortable interacting with all levels within the organization as well as outside contacts
Strong time management and attention to detail
Possess a passion and proficiency for writing and reporting.
Excellent organizational skills. Self-motivated and detail oriented
Strong knowledge of baseball rules and game play
Good team player with great attitude
Ability to work in fast-paced environment
The Orange County Riptide Baseball Club is a 501(c)(3) and all of our internships comply with the US Department of Labor Fair Labor Standards Act. The OC Riptide ensures that all unpaid interns and students understand the following:
The extent to which the intern and the employer clearly understand that there is no expectation of compensation. Any promise of compensation, express or implied, suggests that the intern is an employee—and vice versa.
The extent to which the internship provides training that would be similar to that which would be given in an educational environment, including the clinical and other hands-on training provided by educational institutions.
The extent to which the internship is tied to the intern’s formal education program by integrated coursework or the receipt of academic credit.
The extent to which the internship accommodates the intern’s academic commitments by corresponding to the academic calendar.
The extent to which the internship’s duration is limited to the period in which the internship provides the intern with beneficial learning.
The extent to which the intern’s work complements, rather than displaces, the work of paid employees while providing significant educational benefits to the intern.
Responsibilities:
Reports directly to the General Manager
Journalism coverage for all regular season home games, including writing game recaps and Riptide-related editorials
Responsible for creating external communication deliverables, including digital editorial content, press releases and media advisories
Assist in drafting, preparation, and organization of team press releases
Required to a select number of Riptide away games in-person, and publish game results on Riptide website.
Assist in creating and implementing content for team website and other media outlets.
Facilitate interviews with coaches and players after each game
Issue all media credentials for various members of the print, television and radio media members that attend home games.
Update player profile pages on website
General duties as assigned
Training:
Direct mentorship from our General Manager, who has a Bachelors Degree from Cal State Fullertopn (1994) and has worked in sports media for 20+ years. Includes critiques of game recaps, feature articles and live game updates via social media platforms. Supervisor will provide intern feedback check-in meetings.
Learning Outcomes:
Journalists will learn to cover home and away collegiate summer baseball games writing news, game recaps, analysis and feature content.
Journalism interns will learn to react quickly and accurately during breaking news and to disseminate that news via web and social media channels.
Interns will learn to augment content with photos and videos along with communicating proactively with content teammates and managers.
Interns will learn interviewing skills for printed content as well as interviewing for video and podcast content.
Interns will produce and publish pre- and post-game interviews for both home and away games.
By the end of the internship, students should have gained exceptional knowledge in writing and reporting along with digital media distribution. Should interns pursue career advancement in sports, additional networking within the Southern California sports entertainment industry is available.