Audience Intern
Job Description
The Houston Chronicle is looking for a curious and versatile student journalist to join its Audience team 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.
Responsibilities:
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
Requirements:
- 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 and work in the Chronicle’s office at least 3 days a week.
Internship Details:
- 40 hours a week for 10 weeks, from early June and 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.
Application details:
Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications, including the required documents, by October 25, 2026.
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.
About the Houston Chronicle:
The Houston Chronicle, recognized for its Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism, serves its 2.3 million residents with content and marketing solutions across two of Houston’s largest websites — HoustonChronicle.com and Chron.com, along with our magazine, television and newspaper brands. Our mission is to spark conversations that inspire action to create a better Houston. All our content and the innovative business solutions we provide invite Houstonians to join conversations about a community we’ve been committed to covering and helping prosper for more than 120 years. The community we all call home.
About Hearst Newspapers:
With 2,500 employees across the nation, HNP encompasses a network of 24 daily and 52 weekly publications, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News and Albany Times Union, several top digital-only news and lifestyle sites, marketing services businesses, and entertainment businesses such as King Features Syndicate.
At HNP, we are investing in new and innovative ways to tell stories – growing newsrooms, diversifying tools, evolving platforms – to support the millions of people who trust us each month to help them make decisions, take action and be inspired.
Be a part of something bigger – your headline awaits.
Recognizing the diverse needs of our candidates, if you are interested in applying for employment and need assistance or an accommodation to use our website or regarding the application process, please contact us by email at [email protected]. Please do not use this email address to inquire about the status of applications. We will only respond to inquiries concerning requests for a reasonable accommodation through this email address.
Skills Required
- Must be a junior, senior, or recent graduate.
- Prior experience at a college news publication or professional news organization.
- Personal laptop.
- Wi-Fi or hotspot access.
- Must obtain housing in Houston.
- Must work in the Houston Chronicle office at least three days per week.
- Portfolio of five audience-related clips, such as social media posts, newsletters, or alerts.
- Resume.
- One-page cover letter addressed to the recruiting committee.
Hearst Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Hearst and has not been reviewed or approved by Hearst.
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Healthcare Strength — Healthcare coverage is described as comprehensive, including medical plan choice, full in-network preventive coverage, dental and vision, telemedicine, prescription coverage, and fertility resources. Mental-health resources and other wellbeing services (e.g., therapy sessions, crisis support, virtual physical therapy, and chronic-condition programs) further strengthen the health offering.
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Retirement Support — Retirement support is positioned as meaningful through a 401(k) plan with company matching and Hearst covering plan administration fees. Performance bonuses are also noted as available in some roles, adding an additional rewards component beyond base pay.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time-off benefits include paid holidays, paid sick days, and vacation time with a commonly cited annual range, alongside paid parental leave and family medical leave. A remote work program and flexibility signals are also included as part of the overall rewards experience.
Hearst Insights
What We Do
Hearst is a leading global, diversified media, information and services company with more than 360 businesses. Its major interests include ownership in cable television networks such as A&E, HISTORY, Lifetime and ESPN; global financial services leader Fitch Group; Hearst Health, a group of medical information and services businesses; transportation assets including CAMP Systems International, a major provider of software-as-a-service solutions for managing maintenance of jets and helicopters; 33 television stations such as WCVB-TV in Boston and KCRA-TV in Sacramento, California, which reach a combined 19 percent of U.S. viewers; newspapers such as the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle and Times Union (Albany, New York); more than 300 magazines around the world, including Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Men's Health and Car and Driver, and digital services businesses such as iCrossing and KUBRA; and investments in emerging digital entertainment companies such as Complex Networks.
