NMBA Washington Residency Overview

The program is a semester-long journalism residency in Washington, D.C. It is designed to coincide with the fall and spring semesters at New Mexico’s public universities. Program participants work 40 to 45 hours per week rotating through a variety of journalistic positions as reporters, editors and assignment editors producing objective news bureau reports for the Talk Radio News Service.

Participants in the program are fully credentialed and will have day-to-day access to government activities, under the same circumstances as reporters for the A.P., CNN and The New York Times. The residency enables students to learn journalism and U.S. politics through an emersion-education model.

Students in the program are supervised by the Talk Radio News Service and the NMBA. The NMBA coordinates with participants on a daily basis to organize coverage of events of interest to New Mexicans.

The NMBA will coordinate weekly classroom sessions between students and working journalists, including professionals from New Mexico and the Washington, DC area to allow students to ask questions and hone their skills.

Students may also have an opportunity to travel to New York to see the United Nations and the Fox News studios. The Washington residency program runs during the fall (mid-August to mid-December) and spring (mid-January to mid-May) semesters.

Program Requirements

In order to participate in the program, an undergraduate student must register for classes at one of New Mexico’s public universities. They may register for three to 12 credits at their home university; therefore they receive college credit for the program. As part of their residency, students are required to attend weekly TRNS or Washington Policy Salon seminars.

After the first few weeks of journalistic training, students are expected to produce several broadcast reports per week on the activities of the U.S. Congress, Administration, Pentagon and the Supreme Court. The radio reports are sent to NMBA on a daily basis for distribution to broadcast outlets throughout New Mexico.

Students would be required to participate in the NMBA classroom, a weekly session conducted by news reporters, anchors and other station personnel.

After completion of the program, participants returning to New Mexico are asked to report on a session of the New Mexico Legislature (students are paid for each report) or work with their local broadcasters in a reporting capacity.

Staff and Organizational Information

Melanie Majors, will provide overall supervision of the program for the NMBA. She is a former reporter and TV producer and has worked for the past year with the program.

Ellen Ratner of Talk Radio News Service oversees the students in Washington, DC. Ellen Ratner is the White House Correspondent and Bureau Chief for The Talk Radio News Service, covering the White House and providing exclusive reports to talk radio stations from the Congress and government agencies. She earned a Masters Degree in Education from Harvard University.

Program Goal

The objective is that by the end of the semester, undergraduates will have a greater understanding of government and how working journalists not only cover the news, but are a crucial component of a democratic system and promote media literacy.

The goal of the program is to continue the mission of the NMBA to broadcast information to New Mexicans while at the same time helping train the people who will be working in the industry tomorrow.

The Program's main objectives include:

• Increase media literacy among New Mexico students.
• Providing a measurable increase in the number of students who graduate from New Mexico universities with real world journalism experience.
• Enable New Mexico students, who because of distance and perhaps economic situations which prohibit unpaid internships, gain a working understanding of government and an actual news room.
• Provide economic, academic and social support to New Mexico students to help them hone their skills and become working journalists.
• Create an employee pipeline for New Mexico broadcasters who may wish to hire program graduates in the coming years.
• Provide New Mexico broadcasters with news and information originating from Washington, DC for their local stations.

Background

This is not a new program; all the students in the initial program were part of a joint project between the University of New Mexico, (UNM) journalism program, NMBA, TRNS and YAB. All of the participants were from New Mexico communities. The program provided young people with real life reporting skills and the opportunity to put those skills into practice.

Costs

The NMBA will pay for students housing and transportation for the semester program. The program officials will arrange group housing and students will have to buy and/or cook their own meals. Students are also assessed a refundable cleaning deposit on the housing. Each student will also be responsible for providing his or her own funds for incidental costs.

Students may apply state lottery and other scholarship funds toward their portion of the costs of the program.

Application Process and Eligibility

Students must be enrolled in a public New Mexico university. They must be at least a junior and carry a GPA of 2.5 or higher.

To apply, please send a resume, a letter of recommendation from a current professor and a brief essayabout why you'd like to participate in the program. In addition, students should arrange for an official transcriptto be issued by your school. NMBA members will participate in the recruitment and selection process.

Submit materials by November 1, 2010 for consideration for the spring 2011 semester to:

New Mexico Broadcasters Association
2333 Wisconsin St., NE
Albuquerque, NM 87110