<p>I'm a rising high school junior looking for internships for this fall. Most of the ones I can find are related to various political causes (and some of them are even paid positions!). I am very interested in pursuing a career in politics/IR. However, I might also like to be a journalist. </p>
<p>So, two questions: Would getting internships that blatantly reveal support for a political cause threaten a future journalistic career (or even a future political career)? For that matter, would getting an internship for my <em>junior year</em> be a stupid idea, based on the importance of the junior year to colleges? </p>
<p>Not at all. I interned at my Congressman’s office and have extensive journalism ECs, including being Editor-in-Chief of my school paper. I am proud of both experiences. Don’t worry about what colleges think!</p>
<p>Many well-known journalists have gone back and forth between the media and political jobs (like George Stephanopoulos), so having an internship in something other than journalism is not a problem. Since you are only a junior in HS, I don’t think what you do then will have that much impact on your future career chances.</p>
<p>The best way to get media jobs is to have clips. So write for your school newspaper, write for your local daily paper, etc., and create a strong writing portfolio. </p>
<p>As long as you can maintain your grades next year, there is no problem having an internship. Are you sure the internships you are looking at are for HS juniors (and not college juniors)?</p>
<p>Not a problem since you are only in high school. Could give you a good background in politics that would be useful later in your journalism career, if indeed you decide to be a journalist.</p>
<p>Could be a problem if you were in college because journalism outlets would be concerned about your being biased.</p>
<p>I think the internship is an excellent idea.</p>
<p>I was a radio and TV anchor for 22-years. Then I spent 6-years running the political life of a top local elected official. Now I work in public relations for government.</p>
<p>The best journalists understand how things work. That includes understanding the complexities of people, businesses, governments, taxes, schools, technology, the economy, nonprofits, religions, cultures, subcultures…</p>
<p>My only caution would be to avoid interning with an organization that is perceived as blatantly and unnecessarily strident. </p>
<p>Interning with a political party, for example, would be fine. Interning with an organization widely perceived as being far outside of the mainstream would probably not be helpful–either on your college application or your first job application.</p>
<p>Imho—and this has been discussed in the “Internships” forum—as a high school junior, you’re going to be lowest of the low on the totem pole, after grad students, recent college grads, college upperclassmen, and college lowerclassmen, in terms of getting internships. See also, Life Is Not Necessarily Fair.</p>
<p>I worked on a national political campaign once where we had a <em>terrific</em> high school student doing interesting stuff in the office but she was by far the exception, not the rule.</p>
<p>Nail your junior year in high school and get into a college that’s the best fit for you. </p>
<p>Btw, once you’re in college, file this away: there are lots of internships on Capitol Hill. Some of them have media-related responsibilities…my D’s summer + semester in a Senate office was spent in media-related work and she regarded it as the most substantive of the three pools of assignments that interns in that office got.</p>