Stony Brook Students Build Journalism Careers Through SUNY Local News Internships

Seven Stony Brook University journalism students are spending the summer reporting in professional newsrooms across New York through SUNY's Institute for Local News, giving Stony Brook the largest cohort of interns from any participating SUNY campus this year.

The Institute for Local News was created in 2024 to connect SUNY students with local media organizations, helping strengthen community journalism while providing student reporters with hands-on professional experience. The students are among the second class of summer interns selected through the statewide initiative.

Representing Stony Brook this summer are:

Amit Ben-Bassat (Newsday)
George Caratzas (Journal News)
Layla Duran (Newsday)
Michelle Grisales (Journal News)
Nadia Islam (Schnepps Long Island)
Joshua Lee (Queens Courier)
Ava Shea (Newsday)

For George Giokas, instructor in the School of Communication and Journalism, coordinator of the journalism internship program and a member of the Institute for Local News advisory board, the achievement reflects years spent building relationships with editors and creating opportunities for students beyond the classroom.

"This says a lot about the strength of our program and the instruction our students are getting," Giokas said. "It also says a lot about our contacts in the field, especially on Long Island."

Many students begin building those professional connections in the School of Communication and Journalism's Working Newsroom (JRN 322) course, which Giokas, a former executive news editor at Newsday, created as local news organizations across the country grappled with shrinking staffs and fewer resources. Students accept assignments from professional news organizations, report the stories and work alongside Giokas through multiple rounds of editing before their stories are published.

"The Working Newsroom program is a great outlet for our students to meet and work for local media outlets," Giokas said. "They get to meet the editors. They work with them. They get the real experience they need, and then they're ready to do an internship with those same people, or with other media outlets."

The Working Newsroom partners with about a dozen news organizations on Long Island and beyond, creating a steady stream of professional reporting opportunities for students.

"We had 40 stories published last semester," Giokas said. "The semester before that, there were 70 published in local news. The students get clips. They get three credits. And the media outlets get it for free. It's a beautiful win-win situation."

Over the past two semesters alone, students have produced 110 published stories for local news organizations. They leave the course with professional portfolio clips, while community news outlets receive professionally edited reporting they otherwise might not have the staff to produce.

The success of the Working Newsroom also helped position Stony Brook as one of the campuses that piloted what would become SUNY's Institute for Local News. Giokas serves on the advisory board, helping guide the statewide initiative as it continues to expand across the SUNY system.

The internship experience is also opening doors for students after graduation. "Some go straight into employment, or they continue their internships when they graduate," Giokas said. "Newsday has their eye on the good ones, and Newsday grabs them when they graduate as well."

Students report multiple stories throughout the semester, revise their work with editors, meet publication deadlines and hear from veteran journalists who visit the class to discuss the realities of the profession.

"It's almost like working in a real live newsroom," Giokas said. "The students come in, they work on their stories, I work with them on it, and then I bring in professionals to talk to them about daily news coverage."

That preparation is already paying off for the students in the Institute for Local News program this summer. Caratzas began covering sports before moving into general assignment reporting at the Journal News, while Duran has progressed from shadowing reporters to producing published stories at Newsday. Islam is reporting for Schnepps Long Island, gaining experience covering community news.

Watching students develop into confident journalists has become one of the most rewarding parts of Giokas' nearly two decades at Stony Brook. Through the Working Newsroom, he has recreated the energy of a professional newsroom that he experienced during his years at Newsday while helping launch the next generation of journalists.

"I'm having a blast doing it," Giokas said. "I missed the newsroom at Newsday so much, I had to create this class."

- Beth Squire