Money in Politics Reporting Intern
June 2024 to August 2024
• Pitch, report, analyze data and draft stories surrounding money in politics based on company datasets.
• Create original data visualizations to accompany reported stories using resources like Datawrapper, Infogram and Flourish.
• Interviewed key stakeholders and experts including academics, advocates, economists, lawmakers and their staff, and policy experts.
• Analyzed data using Google Sheets and Python to find trends in campaign donations and lobbying spending.
• Collaborated with other reporters and editors on the political money angles of breaking news events including the presidential assassination attempt and the democrat campaign switch up.
Reporting Intern – Laslo Congressional Bureau
June 2023 to July 2023
• Attended a variety of press conferences and briefings on new bills, congressional resolutions, and government happenings.
• Sent immediate, succinct summaries of each attended event to Bureau Chief Matt Laslo along with top quotes and judgement to speed up follow through time.
• Interviewed lawmakers about pending legislation like the Equality Act and session reactions to things like the unidentified anomalous phenomenon (UAP) testimony of David Grusch.
• Transcribed nearly 100 interviews taken by Laslo in his campaign to interview all 100 Senators about UAPs.
• Managed the branding and social media of Laslo and the Bureau while diversifying their platforms.
• Contributed to the reporting of Laslo’s UAP, SAFE banking, gun legislation and AI coverage with research and source interviews.
Editor in Chief – Ferris State Torch
May 2022 to May 2023
• Manage a 35-person staff of reporters, editors, photographers, and delivery personnel through weekly production and staff meetings.
• Clear attention to detail while meeting strict production deadlines to ensure a smooth printing process.
• Nurture relationships with partners for printing, advertising, and cloud storage solutions.
• Write weekly columns about social issues and the surrounding campus community. These ranged anything from the tech we love to a critical look at a campus tragedy.
• Maintain relationships with university administrators like the President, Provost, head Academic Senate, and multiple college Deans.
• Streamlined team communication by implementing the instant messaging platform Discord. This centralized hub cut out the slowdown and error from the monotony and clutter of our old system, email.
• Orchestrated a redesign of the print templates and fill ad libraries to modernize and fine-tune the print publication.
News Reporter – Ferris State Torch
November 2020 to May 2023
• Pitch stories with intended angle, source list, and developed narrative through line while considering the stakeholders and the quintessential five Ws.
• Research a wide range of topics from cannabis chemistry to law, and tax income, freedom of speech law, and consumer technology.
• Generate stories from 400 to 2,000+ words for the editing deadline.
• Assisted in the research and reporting of two internationally acclaimed story series’ regarding Dr. Thomas Brennan’s tweets and Dr. Barry Mehler’s freedom of speech lawsuit.
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Noah Kolenda 