My first Internet job was with a national Web site in Chicago. There was no companion paper or other medium, everything was online. Yet the office was a bunch of folks staring at computer screens all day. It didn’t seem exciting at first glance, but it was. But if I made the decision on whether or not to work there based on what I saw on that initial visit, I wouldn’t be here.

If there’s a feeling that data entry and monkey work is beneath folks, then it begs the question: Why do it? It’s because that content does have value. It can and should be done better, and newspapers had better figure out ways before the Newmarks, Cubans, Arringtons of the world do.

In short, there’s still a lot of work to be done before every slot is a prized slot.

Maybe it is up to the j-school to make sure that the supervisor intends to provide a quality experience for the intern.

We use a lot of interns from the University of Colorado and their school requires that they are producing unique content - whether that is stories for print, photos or multimedia for the Web site.

So technically, I can’t let my interns do monkey work because they’ll have nothing to turn in for class.

I use this opportunity to teach them everything they’ll need to do this job - scanning wires, writing, editing, capturing and editing video and audio, etc. Hopefully they’ll look for online jobs when they graduate…

The light at the end of the tunnel rests with developing tools for reporters and editors to use to get content online. We’re on the verge of doing that. If we get it right, that’ll free up the online folks from the webmonkey work to innovate and create. Stay tuned.

At least, that’s the ideal and what we should all aim for.

The night update slot is grunt work. We used to call it the “web monkey” slot.

But, in some ways, I’m old school, and I believe that if you have a passion for journalism, you’ll take the job you can get and love it. Either that or go flip hamburgers or become a flak and forget about a career in journalism.

A college grad isn’t going to talk his or her way into a job that is fundamentally against a newspaper’s business model, so either take the job or look for another.

Once you get your foot in the door you can become a subversive agent for change. Here’s how you do it: Get your Web monkey work done well, efficiently and quickly, and then start working on projects that interest you … shoot some video and edit it, build something in Flash, write some code for a little database application (whatever it is you want to specialize in — and if you can’t do it for work, do it on your own for your own site … you do have a blog at least, don’t you?). You can’t approach this as a 9-5 job. The college grads who really get ahead will live and breathe this stuff.

When I was hired by the Ventura County Star in 1999, I was hired as a lowly content producer. It was an entry level job, even though I had about five years experience and had been an online editor. I did my job, and then I did other jobs, too — I proved I was a good Cold Fusion programmer (I wrote code at work and I wrote code at home), so I got shifted to a more operational/programming mode, and as the organization grew (and I created a couple of applications that actually made money), I got more responsibility and trust. I made sure I understood every aspect of the operation and could work with all departments. When my boss left, it was an easy transition to the director’s position.

What I’m saying is, your job is what you make it, and if you don’t like it, make it different. This takes work and dedication, but it can be done. And if you find yourself in a place where you can’t make it different, no matter how hard you try (and be harshly self critical: are you really trying?), then find another newspaper to work for, even if the job is a horizontal move. Don’t get stuck in a bad job at a bad paper. You should know within a year if you’re in the right place.

Finally, we’ll be hiring in 2007. There will be no Web monkey work. We’ll be looking for people who want to have an impact and make a difference (our current opening is for a deputy multimedia editor — this is for somebody with experience and proven talent … we’ve got a couple of good candidates now, more are always welcome).

http://blogs.roanoke.com/immigration/

personally I did my time as a grunt at a weekly newspaper as a photographer — I did the really small town thing — I worked my way up the ladder I LEARNED A HECK OF A LOT about how newsrooms work.

We find it difficult to get folks to apply for our job openings and internship - YES WE PAY!!!- I don’t understand it - we’re making a commitment toward online journalism and we’re putting the appropriate resources toward the product and we are winning some awards to prove that we are making this commitment

being a specialist right of school with the desire of doing exactly what you want to do is a pipe dream.

The industry needs people that are multi-talented innovative thinkers,

Just look at Patrick Beeson — someone who has commented already on this thread– he kicked butt as a online producer and as an intern — we recognized his talent and he was able to design a job specific to his skills — as Web Standards Developer — here at roanoke.com — we cater jobs to the talent. he worked hard and we saw the results of his labor.

we are committed toward our product and toward making sure that great multimedia storytelling is done at roanoke.com and we seek multi-skilled innovative thinking talent. If you think that this is you please send us an email!

I also create the Flash presentations. I enjoy coding the Flash documents because it’s like a puzzle and a good challenge.

But I’ve found that my talent does not really lie in page design. I mean, my designs always look descent. But I’m always perusing the Web checking out extremely well designed Flash packages, and I know they’re a lot better my designs. I’d really like the help of our art department here!

I’ll tell you what I see killing us, though:

Great journalism students with great online skills go out to an internship and get stuck doing vacation fill-ins for the cut-and-paste human robot — who at many papers is doing it for five or six hours, or more, and not for 90 minutes. These students come back and tell us that they will never, ever apply for an online journalism job again.

Yes, they should show more incentive. But they’re young and inexperienced. And they get plugged into a hole that seems to have no exits, no opportunities, no room for multimedia or video or community building. And they think that doing a job is doing what your boss tells you is the priority. And they haven’t learned yet how to stand up and say, “I want to change the way you’re doing things here!”

Please help them see the path up and out. They can do the new work, but they need to be shown a toehold, a rope to pull themsleves up by, something.