INTERNSHIP: UNIVISION NOTICIAS 41

INTERNSHIP: UNIVISION NOTICIAS 41

So far, interning at Univisión Noticias 41 has been a great professional experience. My duties as an intern for “41 A Tu Lado”, a section of the newscast in which Univisión Noticias 41 helps Hispanic-Americans solve diverse personal problems, involves listening to viewers’ calls - an average of 300 voicemails a day, - calling them back asking for details on their issues, choosing a story that sounds legitimate and fit for the newscast, researching legal actions that we can take to solve their issues, going out to the viewers’ homes to shoot the interviews, and culminating the process by shooting the informative part of the segment which presents a solution to their particular problem.

The viewers’ problems are diverse. One of the main issues involves immigration: a typical case is that in which a client pays an average of $8,000 for a lawyer to help them stabilize their immigration status. Time goes by and the client asks for a receipt to confirm their papers are in process; the lawyer then proceeds to deliberately tell the client that he/she won’t help them and will only steal their money; if the client insists on getting their money back, the lawyer tells them he/she will call immigration services and they will be deported: this is when the viewer calls us for help.

Another issue I hear often is that of unpaid labor. This usually happens with illegal immigrants who work in construction or cleaning services and lack contracts with their employers. Most employers owe the illegal workers an average of $6,000 when they call us for help. Another constant issue is that of racial discrimination which is apparently present in the workforce, school system, and on the streets. Sometimes this presents more serious cases in which the caller states that they have been physically and verbally abused by the police for being Hispanic. It is interesting to hear the problems present in the Latino community of the tri-state area and although it is frustrating that due to lack of time or resources I can’t help all callers, it is extremely rewarding when possible.

Besides working on the calls, I have had the opportunity to write for the Univisión Noticias 41 website, learn from the editors, producers, reporters, cameramen, and all the employers at Univisión Noticias 41 who treat interns with a friendly attitude and are willing to share their knowledge. Interns at Univisión Noticias 41 are considered part of the family and are given the same treatment as any other employee, which includes expectations to do our job right.

On the February 2008 sweeps, Univisión Noticias 41 held first and second place on the 6PM and 11PM ratings for local newscasts, having higher ratings than networks such as ABC, CBS, and NBC despite the language issue. These results give me pride of being part of this team and help me see a future for me in the Hispanic-American media.

My experience at Univisión Noticias 41 has been very different than that at WCBS-2 News, where I interned during the fall 2008 semester. The employees, the process, the approach, the audience, the issues treated, the language, the newscasts’ segments, the drive, and every other ingredient present in any news station have all been new experiences for me at Univisión Noticias 41, for I cannot compare it to my previous practice at WCBS-2 News. I ascribe this to the cultural differences and the consideration or importance interns are given at Univisión Noticias 41.