Brea Jones

It has been a busy week, and I apologize to all of the people I promised I’d blog about last week.

I had a nice time at the California Newspaper Publishers Association convention Thursday in San Francisco. If you missed it, but are curious about my thoughts on the internship grant program, here is my speech:

“I would first like to extend my thanks to the Foundation for supporting me with an internship grant two years ago and for inviting me to share my experience with you today.

Student interns thrive in the digital age — they grew up in it, and many graduate to work in newsrooms that struggle to master the very technologies my generation is addicted to.

I fell in love with the news as a reporting intern for the Chico Enterprise-Record, an internship that was supported my Junior year at Chico State by the CNPA Foundation grant. That daily newsroom experience helped pave the way for my job at The Record.

As a Web content producer, I use my experience as a media junkie to help The Record develop its Web presence.

If you question the value of this program in shaping the future of media and information, just text me. MySpace message me. IM me. Poke me on Facebook. E-mail me. Google my name and find my Web site.

I know many of you are seeing these technologies invade your newsrooms, and they start with media consumers like me.

I consider myself lucky to be employed by a California newspaper, but I am far from a token success story of this program.

I count grant recipients among my friends and colleagues, most of whom now work for California newspapers, and many of whom wouldn’t have been able to afford to spend their summers on intern wages without the Foundation’s internship grant; without the generosity of people such as you.

But internship grants do more than support individuals. The newsrooms that house interns for a summer get reporters, copy editors and photographers supported financially by the Foundation. And when those students graduate, they bring more than professional clips to the newsrooms they work in.

They bring the future. “

After meeting many publishers and CNPA staff, I headed to the Mission district to meet with some alternative media people and to hear Josh Wolf speak about his time in prison. An interesting juxtaposition of events for sure. Wolf is running for mayor, so if you’re looking to support a progressive candidate, you can donate $$ and view a video about his candidacy on JoshWolf.net.

I spent the following days training Kirk, the new Web producer at The Record. Then I made the trek up to Chico to attend a surprise shindig for a good friend who is leaving journalism and moving to the Bay Area to work for a publishing house.

Another one bites the dust …

So it’s been a whirlwind. And an extra special thanks to the CNPA ladies who said I remind them of Cameron Diaz.

Personally, I don’t see it. But I know how to take a compliment, so thanks!

UPDATE: I removed the photo of Cameron Diaz on July 30 because so many hits came from Google image searches for the actor.