Local Reporting Internship - Times of San Diego – Summer and Fall 2025

NEWSWELL is seeking interns to cover stories in San Diego County and nearby communities. 

Internships are available during the summer and fall semesters of 2025.

Internship details

Summer 2025

Duration: 10 weeks (early June – mid-August)

Hours: 20/week or 40/week

Working Environment:

• Based in our downtown San Diego, California, newsroom, in-person (potential for occasional San Diego-based hybrid work). Trolley access nearby.
• Mainly Monday through Friday daytime schedule but flexibility required for potential evenings or weekends, as needed
• Regular use of standard newsroom equipment, including cloud-based applications, mobile apps, etc.

Fall 2025

Duration: 15 weeks (late August – early December)

Hours: up to 16/week.

Working Environment:

• Based in our downtown San Diego, California, newsroom for in-person (potential for occasional San Diego-based hybrid work). Trolley access nearby.
• Mainly M-F daytime schedule but flexibility required for potential evenings or weekends, as needed. Work schedules are set up to accommodate the student’s university courses. 
• Regular use of standard newsroom equipment, including cloud-based applications, mobile apps, etc.

The expected pay rate for these positions is $20/hr.

Times of San Diego, an award-winning digital nonprofit based in one of the country’s major metropolitan cities, serves a unique population with timely, comprehensive news that’s accessible to everyone. The county is one of the leading producers of agricultural products and the world center for unmanned aircraft and smartphone technology. Its naval facilities and Marine installations make up the largest military concentration on Earth. And just south of San Diego is Tijuana, the world’s busiest border crossing.

Times of San Diego’s promise is to be both comprehensive – with every local story that matters – and quick, with daily news in brief, easy-to-read formats. If news affects San Diegans, whether it’s from Tijuana, Sacramento, Washington or overseas, Times of San Diego will keep you informed.

The news outlet is an affiliate of NEWSWELL, a nonprofit network of local news organizations that helps newsrooms become nonprofit and for-community. It provides strategic guidance, innovative solutions and wrap-around operations so local journalists can focus on local news, and newsrooms can best serve their communities. NEWSWELL partners with Arizona State University, the nation’s most innovative for 10 years in a row, to offer game-changing ideas, tools and research. NEWSWELL transforms local news to help communities and democracy thrive.

This paid internship will give students the opportunity to cover local news in the fifth most-populous county in the U.S.

The internships are tailored to the specific students’ skills and interests, and they could include experiences covering breaking news, politics, sports and features; overseeing the website; writing headlines and copy editing; creating social media content; editing visuals and/or researching and fact checking.

Seasoned journalists will mentor and coach interns and provide one-on-one editing and development plans.

The decade-old online publication has 750,000 unique visitors a month and is located in downtown San Diego with nearby trolley access.

What you'll do

• Cover local news and events (public meetings, news conferences, etc.)
• Identify, develop, report and write quick-turn and enterprise stories
• Identify and track trending topics and pitch ideas to editors
• Write about local college and professional sports
• Aggregate breaking local news stories from multiple sources
• Edit and publish wire service content
• Edit, crop and size photos for online publication
• Create compelling, SEO-friendly headlines
• Contribute content to email newsletters
• Help to manage the site, including the homepage

What you'll need

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including knowledge and ability to apply proper grammar, spelling and punctuation
• Strong news writing and editing skills, including familiarity with Associated Press style
• Understanding of basic journalism concepts, including libel law and news judgment
• Ability to work independently and also within a team environment
• Proven track record of professionalism, dependability and punctuality
• Knowledge of basic journalism tools, such as familiarity with WordPress, Photoshop, popular social media platforms, etc.
• Ability to maintain a high degree of confidentiali