My 2009 Summer Internship at the Chosun Ilbo in Korea (Korea's largest daily newspaper)

My 2009 Summer Internship at the Chosun Ilbo in Korea (Korea's largest daily newspaper) 

For the duration of my internship at Chosun Ilbo, I worked for the Culture section of the newspaper. I asked to be put into this department during orientation as I was a little more familiar with this area, having written for the Arts section of The Harvard Crimson. We also had the opportunity to listen to several writers from different departments to help inform our choices, which I found very helpful.

For the first two weeks of the internship, I worked on the Fine Arts beat. On several occasions, I was sent out to interview independent galleries about certain topics set by my supervising reporter or to ask about current trends in the art market. I also interviewed student artists in preparation for the Asian Students and Young Artists Art Festival, which opened at the end of July. I especially enjoyed being able to interview other students and seeing their works. Later, I went to the opening of ASYAAF and interviewed foreigners at the exhibition. While I did not write a great deal at this point, it was a good way to ease into using more Korean, especially in a journalism setting.

After those two weeks, I worked with several members of the Books team. My largest project came in the form of an analysis of the current vampire trend in books and media. I felt that I was able to make the most of my English skills (as many of the articles on the trend were in English) and my skills as an English major by analyzing films, metaphors in the legends, and themes in vampire novels. I was also asked to write a part of the article, and having attempted it, I feel that I have learned a great deal not only about Korean, but also about my own level of Korean ability and how I may go about improving it in the future.

I wrote another article on the American e-books market, and I felt more confident writing Korean, and felt that I have improved greatly over the summer. I very much appreciated my (second) supervising reporter asking me to write the articles and entrusting me with that responsibility, despite knowing that my Korean is not perfect.

Though I remained in the Culture department for the entire duration of the internship, I was once asked by an Entertainment reporter to assist her in interviewing musician Eugene Park as he was more comfortable with English. I felt that I learned a lot from this experience, not only in what makes a good interview, but it also gave me a lot to think about in regards to the music industry and the importance of contracts to artists. I translated the entire interview for the Entertainment department reporter and she ended up using the interview in its entirety as her article.

I came into the internship hoping to learn more about Korean culture from a professional perspective and improve my Korean; I felt that I gained both of these, but in addition, I feel that I formed important relationships and learnt more about myself as a person about to embark on the professional world.

–Jee Hyeon Jenny Lee, '10