What it's like to be a news intern at The Jewish Chronicle

Judith Butler, combining topical Jewishness with general excellence

Hello! I've been interning at the Jewish Chronicle for the last fortnight, writing news and consuming my own body weight in cake. As anyone within earshot of me at any point knows, I have a dream that one day I will be paid to do journalism. Until that point, however, I'm learning valuable life lessons - like not assuming it's ok to use someone's surname (complaint number 1), not accidentally misquoting someone (complaint number 2) and not calling someone a lesbian unless they say you can (complaint number 3).

The JC, as it is affectionately known, is a highly pleasant place to work. On morning one they put me at a desk and told me to get on with it. It's exactly the kind of working environment I like. I've been able to engage in quintessentially journalistic pursuits like finding my own stories, doggedly tracking down people to talk to and calling up Russia for a chat.

Here are some of the stories I've written. Also, look out for forthcoming exciting reports on how a flaming meteorite hit Siberia and what to expect at this year's Jewish Book Week (hint: it includes Judith Butler).

First off, a guy called Rodrigo Rosenberg set up an elaborate plot to bring down the Guatemalan government:

'Perfectionist' lawyer arranged own murder


There was an exciting case of Holocaust 'fraud':

'Reich's youngest Nazi' investigated over Holocaust 'lies'


I continued my foray into LGBTQ oriented news, this time with a Jewish slant:

Gay marriage: shuls ready

Gay Jewish parents slam Catholic MP's anti-family allegations


There was a spate of (two) antisemitic attacks in France:

Antisemitic attack in Marseille

Knife-wielding woman threatens boy at Toulouse Jewish school


And most important of all, in light entertainment news:

Sacha Baron Cohen is best-paid British actor in the United States

Jewish burial hope has film star Drew Barrymore seeking tattoo removal

Galliano shocks in Chasidic garb

The rise of Golden Dawn and Venezuela 'spying' on its Jews

Neo-Nazi Golden Dawn members looking like the cast of Les Miserables, except fascist.

As part of the long, hard, unpaid road into journalism, I am currently interning at The Jewish Chronicle. It's super exciting and I get to write serious stories about fascism and the Jewish community and Venezuela and the Jewish community, so far.

I've also written a forthcoming piece in which I interview civilly partnered Jews about their relationships and thoughts on nearly-legal equal marriage. I spoke to a Conservative politician about this at 7.45 this morning, which to me smacks of utter dedication in all respects.

There has been some discussion of 'The Only Way Is Essex' in the office, but luckily the finger of light entertainment writing doom has not been pointed at me.

Here are some news pieces I have written so far. The first is kind of a big deal:

Biggest Golden Dawn rally in Athens since election.

The second is also massive. Chavez's secret services have allegedly been spying on Venezuelan Jews. For anybody with fluent Castilian, there is a cache of secret intelligence documents floating around on the internet:

Venezuela 'spying' on Jewish community: