INTERNS AND FELLOWS ON THEIR TIME AT MOTHER JONES

Early in a reporting career, the most important thing is to find a place where you can get the time and support to do good work. I found that as a fellow at Mother Jones, even though the pay meant I had to move back in with my parents.

Working as an intern for Mother Jones means fact-checking and researching, not fetching coffee and making photocopies. Editors treat you like a valuable member of the editorial team because they know without you, the magazine can’t be published.

Since I'm an aspiring reporter, my eight months as an editorial intern and fellow at Mother Jones taught me the golden rule of journalism: Always ask smart and fearless questions.

Broadly, the program gave me an up-close look at the blood, sweat, and tears that go into producing good, fearless journalism. More specifically, as a fact-checking intern whose butt was on the line with every piece I reviewed, I developed an abiding respect for the reportorial commitment to “getting it right.”

We’re going back a ways now...I believe it was 1978 or 79 (whew!), in the Pleistocene era. I was a fact-checking intern. It taught me a lot—the many steps involved in an investigation, the care in determining facts, the sources from which they come (a great facet of fact-checking). And that’s not to mention the inspiring collective energy of putting out a magazine with a purpose.

Working closely with writers and editors as a fact-checker I learned the anatomy of long-form writing—what it takes to report, write, and edit involved journalism—valuable lessons I use in my own reporting.