Nickkita Lau meets former president of El Salvador Francisco Flores Perez on her internship with Voice of America.

By Abigail Betts

For senior journalism major Nickkita Lau, obtaining an internship was a crucial step on the pathway to reaching her ultimate career goal: becoming a news anchor in her homeland, Hong Kong. Lau came to the states in January of 2004 and lived with her cousin in Philadelphia, Pa. Craving a sense of independence and freedom, she enrolled at the UI and began her studies in journalism.

Her dreams of a career as a journalist were born in 2003 at a large protest in Hong Kong regarding a proposition from the Chinese government to control and limit the freedom of the press. Lau participated in that protest and was immediately inspired.

“At that moment I felt so touched and I saw journalists working and I thought well, I want to help my people,” she says.

Lau landed not one but two internships, the first with WGN Radio in Chicago, Ill. Prior to her internship, she had never heard of WGN and did not know much about Chicago in general. Before her interview, she decided to go online and research the city. Finding background information on internships prior to the interview is something she highly recommends. She says it will show them that you are enthusiastic about your job and genuinely interested in what they do.

Lau had many responsibilities at WGN. One of them involved editing packages from their national news feed, ABC News. She also had the responsibility of listening to speeches by President Bush and making quick decisions on cuts to be used for that evening’s broadcast.

“Maybe in 10 minutes I have to find two good cuts from a 30 minute speech…it’s really exciting,” she says, adding that the job was stressful but stimulating, and one thing that improved for her was note-taking skills.

Found in Translation

Lau's second internship experience was with the Voice of America. Based in Washington D.C., VOA is a government-owned international broadcasting agency, similar to the BBC.

“It’s for the rest of the world to know more about America,” she says.

VOA is not broadcast on the radio or on TV here in the United States because the charter does not want it to be propaganda for American people.

During her time at VOA, Lau helped translate stories from English to Mandarin. This proved to be a big challenge for her, as she was not very fluent in Mandarin. Over time, however, her Mandarin skills improved.

“I don’t speak Mandarin very well at all so I got laughed at at the beginning,” she says. “But later on I improved and they were all very impressed.”

An exciting opportunity presented itself when Lau went on assignment to cover an unusual story: a birthday party for a panda bear. This was her first time doing anything for TV, and she was put on the spot to interview the coordinator of the zoo. This turned out to be a valuable learning opportunity for Lau to think on her feet, as journalists are often required to do.

“I wasn’t prepared or anything, so I just came up with questions while I was actually talking to him,” she says. “They actually used a couple of bytes for the show.”

The biggest difference between WGN and VOA was that WGN was tenser and more similar to real-world reporting where as VOA was a more laid-back environment. However, in both cases, Nickkita realized she was working with adults, so not only did she have to act like an adult, she was treated like one as well.

“You can’t be late, and you get yelled at sometimes for no reason, but you can’t talk back,” she says.

Building a Network

Some advice Nickkita has to offer anyone seeking a career in journalism would be to join the Society of Professional Journalists -- and not just because she’s the president.

“[SPJ] is the biggest organization [for journalists] in this country,” she says. “Everyone in the business knows about it and it looks good on your resume.”

SPJ provides a great opportunity for networking, which she emphasizes as an important part of this business. She encourages future journalists to get involved with other groups at school, and when they get an interview for an internship, to research the company and interviewer. Overall, Lau says it’s important to show your enthusiasm.

“Show them that you really really want it," she says. "Show them that you’re passionate and really motivated.”

Lau will be graduating in May 2007 and hopes to intern with the Heritage Foundation or Fox News. After that, she wants to return home to Hong Kong to pursue her dream of being a news anchor, a dream that she holds very close to heart.

“Hong Kong is just home," she says. “The reason I want to be a journalist is to serve my people.”