PLACEMENT OVERVIEW

Location: Cape Town Start dates: Available all year round, you choose your start date Duration: From 4 weeks to 6 months, subject to visa requirements Requirements: You should preferably have a Journalism degree, but if you're in your last year of study or you have some journalism experience, we'll submit your application and you may be accepted. An international drivers licence would be useful. Compensation: Unpaid Price: £1,895 for 4 weeks, ranging to £3,395 for 12 weeks. Full Price List and other Currencies      What's included: ►Arranging the internship, ►Full pre-departure support and assistance, ►Payment Protection insurance ►Accommodation ►Food ►Meeting you at the nearest airport/station ►Transfer to your accommodation ►In-country team support and backup ►24-hr emergency support ►Certificate of Completion. What's not included: Flights, travel insurance, cost of visa, transport to and from your project, return transfer to the airport.

The paper has a small, compact News Room (10 full time news reporters) with a friendly, comradely atmosphere. The more seasoned journalists and photographers are always willing to share contacts and background information with visiting students, interns and journalists. At various times of the year, they host visiting journalists from Germany and the Netherlands, journalism masters' students from the University of Southern California, graduate students from North Western University (Medill) and undergraduates from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. The first edition goes off screen at about 9pm, and the second edition off screen at midnight (or later if a big story is breaking.) The night shift reporter(s) work from 3.30pm through until the paper goes to bed. WORK CONTENT: You'll usually work the hours to suit you within the placement, but your typical working day could look like this: 09:00 – 10:00 - Morning coffee, read morning newspapers and wires and set up interviews 10:00 – 11:00 - Attend the news room planning conference where you have to sell your own story ideas to the news editor and all other ideas will be discussed. 11.00 – 18:00 - Early page deadlines from 3:30pm. Then you’ll spend the rest of the day working on your stories for the next day. You may have to work till about 18:30 or later if an exceptional case/story occurs. There could be variations of this schedule as the Times may want you to start earlier to finish later. As an approximate outline you will generally be working Sunday to Thursday so your weekend will be Friday and Saturday. An international driver’s license would be a big advantage as The Times has pool cars that are used by interns to go out on assignments and to get stories. They will not have people to drive you around. If you go on the placement with out a license it will mean that most of your work will be deskbound, unless you go out with someone else on a story.  Taxis may be used but this will be at your own expense, as public transport in Cape Town and South Africa generally does not cover all areas. "The staff were very friendly and it was a really pleasant environment to work in. I am continuing to write for them here in England, and they are continuing to publish my work in South Africa. The placement has given me experience that would have been very difficult to arrange with a similar-sized publication here in the UK ... it has given me a foot in the door of an industry that would have been relatively inaccessible to me previously." Back to Top

ABOUT THE NEWSPAPER
Cape Town is the third biggest tourist destination in the world today and has a daily newspaper to match - The Cape Times. It is the oldest, continuously published, newspaper in South Africa (founded in 1876) and is a sister newspaper of the oldest title, the Cape Argus (founded in 1857). The offices are situated at the heart of the bustling city, only a short walk away from the magical Gardens, where you can enjoy your lunch hour under the whispering trees and hand-feed squirrels scampering past… truly idyllic.

Readership is mostly drawn from the middle to upper income brackets, and the bulk of readers are in the Cape Town metropolitan area, which has a population of around 4million. The demographics of readership closely mirror the demographics of the Western Cape.

GOOD FOR YOUR CV? YES!
Andrew McGlashen did a journalism Work Experience placement in the Sports Department of the Cape Argus. The result was ... "Thought I would let you know at Travellers that I have got the job in London that you heard about on the grapevine. It's working for a major cricket website called Cricinfo [http://www.cricinfo.com/] based in Shepherd's Bush. They were very impressed with what I had done in Cape Town, so I owe many thanks to you all for organising my placement."

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES YOU CAN DO WHILE ON THIS PROJECT:

• 5-DAY OR 7-DAY SAFARI from Cape Town up the renowned Garden Route: taking in Dolphin and Whale Spotting, visits to many tourist attractions, such as a visit to a brewery(!), the Bloukrantz Bungy Jump (reportedly the highest in the world), and a guided tour of the Cango Caves.
• 1 WEEK WHALES, SHARKS AND DOLPHINS Project: This is an extraordinary and exciting project in a beautiful location, surrounded by white beaches and blue ocean. And two hours from the world's third favourite city - Cape Town. What more could anyone want?
• SURFING COURSES: In the buzz city of Durban.
• PARAGLIDING COURSE: Soar over the impressively beautiful Drakensburg Mountain. You'll get a licence at the end of the course which qualifies you to do solo paragliding around the world.

TRAVEL:
To read about Travel arrangements and what happens when you arrive in your new country, please click here.

Support & Backup: To read about the excellent Support & Backup we provide before you leave and during your programme, please click here.
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