“I have new insight into what a story can be.”
“I was able to connect with people in the community and learn some of the ins and outs of how the city and county government works.”
“I really exceeded my expectations in terms of what I was able to produce.”
These reflections from past Public Source interns are testimony to why internships have long been core to our organization’s spirit and mission.
For more than 10 years, the team at Pittsburgh’s Public Source has been imparting innovative and inclusive methods of storytelling to aspiring journalists across specialties. We’ve hosted reporters, data journalism novices, photojournalists, and interns specializing in audience engagement or business partnerships.
In the fall, we reached a significant milestone: We have trained over 100 interns in the Public Source newsroom.
This achievement reflects our commitment to both high-quality journalism and fostering the next generation of journalists and professionals supporting journalism in an evolving media landscape.
In 2025, our interns continue to accomplish great things during and after their time with Public Source — producing impactful reporting, winning awards and moving on to impressive careers.
A Public Source internship can take many forms. Our editorial interns often fully report enterprise stories with data or investigative elements and learn our intensive fact-checking system. Our photojournalism interns take assignments just like our staff photojournalists while also being encouraged to pitch their own ideas. Other internship roles have focused on building our newsroom’s tech and data access, growing our presence on social media or even building relationships with local businesses.
Our interns have been honored for their work. Last year, interns Elizabeth Szeto and Tanya Babbar both won Press Club of Western PA Golden Quill awards.
Babbar, who collaborated with Public Source’s health reporter on the award-winning investigation and is now a reporter at the Houston Chronicle, said she appreciated working closely with the reporters and editors at Public Source. “That was very reassuring,” she said. Each Public Source intern is assigned a staff member who can provide deep mentoring and interns are also invited to our weekly staff meetings and professional development sessions.
Evans Toviave, who interned with Public Source in audience engagement last year, brought creativity to crafting social media copy, producing reels and deepening audience connections.
“Working with Public Source was a dream come true because it allowed me to take something I had always been passionate about and turn it from an extracurricular pursuit into real-world experience with the potential to impact lives across the Pittsburgh region,” he said. “One of the things I love most is that the journey doesn’t end — I am forever grateful to have a team of mentors I can always turn to for career advice and guidance from fellow journalists.”
We see Public Source interns moving on to a variety of important roles beyond our news organization. In journalism, they’ve gone on to institutions like The New York Times, CNN, Trib Total Media, the Houston Chronicle and Bloomberg News, among many others. And, some of our interns choose career paths outside of journalism in public service, nonprofit, marketing or technology roles. Wherever they land, we see Public Source interns doing work that is informed by the time they spend in our newsroom.
“I was able to learn and grow as a reporter and get an even better understanding of what it truly means to be part of a news organization that prioritizes public-service reporting,” said Danielle Cruz, who interned with Public Source in 2021 and now serves as managing editor of the Co-op City Times.
Amanda Su interned with Public Source in fall 2020, and said the lessons gained were something she would carry through her career.
“Public Source’s focus on enterprising reporting and public-service journalism — what drew me to this internship — challenged me to research deeply and source widely, and to pursue novel, community-centered angles for news threads with a sense of urgency,” said Su, who went on to work for ABC News before joining New York Times Opinion as an associate video producer.
We are proud of the difference that these more than 100 interns are making in our world and look forward to welcoming the next round of interns to our newsroom.
