Internships with Radio Prague

Radio Prague, the international service of Czech Radio, is setting up a programme of internships for university students of the Czech language. Radio Prague broadcasts in Czech, French, German, English and Spanish, and in recent years we have regularly employed students from several different countries interested in gaining work experience in the field. We have been very satisfied with their contribution, and they have all valued their experience at Radio Prague.

We would be very keen to broaden our internship programme and are therefore contacting university faculties around the world where Czech is taught. Students joining in the programme would have to speak one of our five languages perfectly and would need a sound knowledge of Czech. Because we are a station focusing mainly on current affairs, they would also need to be actively interested in the political, social and cultural life of the Czech Republic. We are willing to take on interns for any period between four weeks and six months, and are able to offer very interesting and varied work. This includes experience of writing current affairs reports, news bulletins and press reviews, as well as conducting radio interviews and preparing more in-depth “feature“ programmes. The intern would also gain interesting radio experience, including editing sound material and reading in the studio, and we would offer informal training throughout the internship. For a better picture of Radio Prague I would strongly recommend that you visit our website < http://www.radio.cz >.

Unfortunately we are only able to offer students a very small monthly salary and Czech Radio does not have its own accommodation, which means that each student would have to find his/her own lodgings (although of course we would be willing to help in the search). On the other hand the student would gain invaluable experience An internship with Radio Prague would be ideal for any student who speaks reasonable Czech and is actively interested in life today in Central Europe.

Please contact us as soon as possible if you are interested in the programme.

And finally I would also like to remind you of an email service offered by Radio Prague. Free of charge you can subscribe to receive by email a daily bulletin of news from the Czech Republic in any one of our five languages. For further details, please consult our website.

David Vaughan
Editor-in-Chief
Radio Prague
Vinohradská 12
120 00 Praha 2
Tel: +420 2 24 22 21 53
Fax: +420 2 24 21 82 39
E-mail: dvaughan@cro.cz
http://www.radio.cz

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Some comments from interns at Radio Prague

“I have fondest memories of my internship at Radio Prague’s German Section: as well as improving my Czech, I was given an insight into the work of the radio journalist - in a way that is rarely possible back home. “Learning by doing“, with plenty of responsibility from the first day onwards. I learnt to see the Czech Republic from a journalist’s point of view and in this way was able to apply the “grey“ theory of my university studies in the real world. And best of all - there was always an understanding colleague nearby to help me along when I got stuck.“ Jana Bodicky, student, Munich University, Germany

“As a Czech Canadian, I consider the internship at Radio Prague to be an essential part of my MA programme in East-Central European studies. Three months with Radio Prague’s English Section not only gave me valuable experience in radio journalism, but provided in-depth exposure to Czech culture and politics - not something any seminar or even frequent vacations to the Czech Republic have ever accomplished..“ Linda Mastalir, post-graduate student, University of Toronto, Canada

 “From the anniversary of the Prague Spring to the opening of new cycle paths, to keeping up-to-date on President Havel’s serious illness... this was the range of events I had to cover during my internship at Radio Prague. One minute I was coaxing a reluctant interviewee to practice his broken English, the next I was trying to escape a voluble polemic from someone else in a mixture of various languages. I was in at the deep end and in front of a microphone from day one and given responsibility and freedom both within the office and out and about in the Czech Republic. My time at Radio Prague gave me insight into the workings of an international station as well as a greater grasp of Czech affairs - overall it was a challenging and rewarding experience.“ Catherine Miller, student, University of Oxford, England

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