Audience Intern - Summer 2027
Hearst Health
Salary undisclosed
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Description
Role Overview
The Houston Chronicle is looking for a curious and versatile student journalist to join its Audience team as an Audience Intern for the summer 2027 internship program.
Audience journalists help determine how journalism reaches people—and what makes them want to come back. You’ll work alongside editors, reporters and audience strategists to help shape coverage, craft compelling headlines and social posts, engage readers across platforms and use data to understand what matters to our audience.
You’ll gain experience at the intersection of journalism, storytelling and digital strategy while helping the Chronicle reach hundreds of thousands of readers across Houston and beyond. You may help package breaking news, promote enterprise reporting, build newsletters, identify search opportunities, analyze reader behavior and develop new ways to connect with audiences.
This position is designed for motivated student journalists who want to build careers in audience journalism and gain hands-on experience in a major newsroom. Past interns have gone on to full-time roles at the Chronicle as reporters, producers and editors across our newsroom and audience teams.
Hybrid: This hybrid internship is based in Houston, TX and requires working in the Chronicle’s office at least 3 days per week.
What You’ll Do
- Monitor real-time analytics and identify patterns in what readers are viewing, sharing and returning to.
- Help editors and reporters frame stories for maximum clarity, relevance and impact.
- Write and refine headlines, social copy, push alerts and other promotional language with attention to SEO and news value.
- Create social posts and contribute to strategies for platforms including Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Reddit and more.
- Assist with newsletter planning, writing and audience-focused story selection.
- Help package stories for the homepage and other digital platforms.
- Research search trends, audience interests and emerging platforms.
- Pitch ideas for reaching new audiences and deepening connections with existing readers.
- Collaborate across the newsroom to translate Chronicle journalism into useful, compelling digital experiences.
What You’ll Bring
- Juniors, seniors or recent graduates with prior experience at a college news publication or professional news organization.
- A personal laptop and Wi-Fi or hotspot access.
- Must obtain housing in Houston.
Internship Details
- 40 hours a week for 10 weeks, from early June to early August. Interns will be paid $15 an hour.
- Interns will work Monday through Friday, with occasional weekend coverage based on news demands.
- The recruiting committee will assign all interns a mentor from the newsroom based on their interests.
How to Apply
Please submit a portfolio of 5 audience-related clips (social media posts, newsletters, alerts, etc.), a resume, and a 1-page cover letter addressed to the recruiting committee detailing your passion for journalism and what you hope to achieve through this internship.
Deadline to apply: October 25, 2026
About this role
The Houston Chronicle's Audience team is seeking a student journalist who understands how to connect readers with news in the digital age. You'll spend ten weeks working at the intersection of journalism and data strategy, monitoring analytics to identify what resonates with audiences, crafting headlines and social copy optimized for multiple platforms, and collaborating with reporters and editors to shape how stories reach people. The role involves real hands-on work—writing for Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and Reddit; building newsletters; packaging homepage stories; and pitching ideas to deepen audience engagement across Houston's 2.3 million residents.
This internship suits juniors, seniors or recent graduates with prior newsroom experience who are genuinely curious about audience journalism as a career path. You'll work 40 hours a week from early June through early August, based in the Chronicle's office at least three days weekly, earning $15 an hour. The newsroom will assign you a mentor aligned with your interests, and past interns have moved into full-time reporter, producer and editor roles at the Chronicle itself. You'll need to secure housing in Houston, bring your own laptop, and be prepared for occasional weekend shifts when news demands it.
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Pay for this role
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