Q. I'm a young journalist preparing to apply for first jobs. I've had internships before, so I have a lot of professional experience to take clips from rather than using my college paper pieces. I have a pretty good understanding of the clips I'd like to send out, however I have a unique situation around one of them that I'm not sure how to approach.
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I wrote an article about gas station pricing signs for
The Albuquerque Tribune at the end of the summer. I pitched the idea myself. My editor allowed me to pursue it and it ended up being placed on A1. In short, I knew this was a clip I'd want to send to employers.
I recently searched for the article on Google and, to my surprise, the Scripps News Service must have picked it up. It was published in at least seven or eight other publications, most notably the Chicago Sun-Times.
So my question now is, when I send this clip out to potential employers, does it matter which publication it's from? I assume The Albuquerque Tribune gave it the most play, but the Chicago Sun-Times has a very good reputation in my mind. Should the fact that other publications picked it up simply be a side note in my resume or cover letter, or should I include a few copies of that same clip in an application?
Confused about Reputation
A. Congratulation on having your story picked up so frequently. That's great.
But it doesn't really affect the quality of the clip, which was already pretty high. If you'd like, you can attach a note to that clip saying it was published in seven or eight newspapers, including the
Chicago Sun-Times.
You probably have better things to say in your cover letter, though you might find room to add that sentence to your resume.
Send a copy from the paper where you worked, unless there was a mistake in it that another paper fixed.
See these 181 pages of help: "Breaking In: The JobsPage.com Guide to Newspaper Internships."
Coming Monday: This photographer is willing to leave New York for a better lifestyle in a smaller community. But he can't get the editor there to take him seriously.
