Going into his internship, Tyler Thompson ’27 had no way of knowing that gleaning a summer’s worth of good journalism career experience would hinge in part on bad lettuce.
Thompson was one of two Denison journalism students — Ellen Hansen ’28 was the other —to intern at WOSU 89.7 NPR News in Columbus.
Hansen spent her summer on the producing side of the news operation, working on the station’s popular news program, All Sides with Amy Juravich.
Tyler worked on the news desk as a reporter, covering a range of topics from rattlesnake conservation to the impact of heat waves on Ohio’s unhoused residents.
He also became the station’s go-to reporter on one of the bigger stories of the summer: the cyclospora outbreak linked to tainted iceberg lettuce that sickened thousands across the United States.
Tyler Thompson ’27
That particular news beat, he conceded, wasn’t one he might have sought out on his own. And it did make him the occasional butt of his coworkers’ good-natured wisecracks as the summer progressed.
But the health crisis gave Thompson solid experience covering a major news story, one that seemingly everyone was talking about.
“It is serious, and it’s a story that is important for people to understand and know,” he said.
Thompson is majoring in journalism with a minor in creative writing. Hansen is a double major in journalism and psychology. Both have worked for The Reporting Project, a non-profit local news outlet that covers Licking County and is run by Denison journalism students and faculty. They landed their WOSU internships with the guidance of journalism faculty and the expertise of the Knowlton Center for Career Exploration.
Professor Jack Shuler, the director of Denison’s journalism program, said the pair built essential multimedia journalism skills at Denison, in class and with The Reporting Project, that made them strong internship candidates.
“It’s been awesome to listen to WOSU this summer and know that our young journalists are shaping the stories and shows on air,” Shuler said. “Ellen and Tyler are exceptional journalists, and they have produced exceptional work. They have learned in the classroom and cut their teeth reporting for Licking County through The Reporting Project, the hallmark of our journalism program at Denison. They were prepared to hit the ground running.”
Thompson’s days at the station were a mix of daily journalism and longer-form radio stories, such as one on conservation efforts to protect one of Ohio’s two rattlesnake species, the endangered eastern massasauga. He recorded his interviews, wrote scripts, and edited stories to air on the news.
Hansen brought with her some prior experience in radio; she is a DJ on Denison’s Doobie Radio. For All Sides, she helped secure guests, prepared scripts, and contributed her own reporting.
“Every week has been something different,” she said.
Ellen Hansen ’28
She also had the chance to pitch and plan her own show topics, including a show highlighting Columbus’ local music scene that dovetailed with her interest in music journalism.
“Seeing the news side of radio has been really cool,” she said. “I’d love to do more of it in the future.”
“This experience has taught me so much through hands-on work, but also observing those who work on All-Sides,” Hansen said. “There is so much more that goes into radio shows than what I thought there was prior to this internship. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I had learning from such talented producers and journalists.”
Thompson said a daily newsroom could be tiring, but it was never dull. He found the work fulfilling, and the internship reinforced his belief that journalism in some form is in his future.
“The core components of journalism are so important to me,” he said.
“It’s been fun to have something that is pushed out on the air at the end of the day, and you can hear it,” he said. “It’s been really cool, when I listen to 89.7 and I hear my own voice, to know there are journalists behind this work, including myself.”
