Nicholas Ballasy

No one can fault Nicholas Ballasy for his initiative and desire to achieve his career aspiration of being a TV network correspondent. The junior journalism major certainly has made the most of every opportunity at Rider.

Through his own initiative, Ballasy has been selected as the only White House Unit intern at CNN in Washington, D.C. this summer. According to Christina Kopman, Human Resources Coordinator for CNN, he was chosen from more than 250 applicants around the country.

At the same time, he was accepted into the summer Institute on Political Journalism at Georgetown University, which enrolls approximately 100 students nationally. He will enroll in two journalism classes at Georgetown, attend seminars and listen to guest lectures by professionals in the field of journalism as part of the Institute.

“The Institute was in the middle of placing me in an internship as part of the program,” Ballasy said. “But in January, I applied for all the available positions at CNN that interested me in Washington, D.C. and New York City. The director of the Institute was very excited when I told him of my placement.

‘I specifically want to thank everyone in the Department of Communication and Journalism for their help in and out of the classroom,” Ballasy added. “I want to thank Professor Shawn Kildea and Scott Alboum, as well as Dr. David Rebovich (political science) and President Rozanski for writing personal letters of recommendation for the Institute.”

Ballasy said that Dr. Frank Rusciano (political science) and Mercedes Diaz (communication) first informed him about the Institute and piqued his interest in Washington, D.C. as a possible place to study for the summer.

At CNN, he said he will assist producers and correspondents with researching stories, writing copy, pulling video and producing news segments.

“The edge I’ve gained to secure the CNN internship comes from all the work I’ve done and initiative I’ve taken to get on-camera interviews with important people,” Ballasy said. “But Rider laid the foundation. I was told you can get involved right away as a freshman if you have the desire and your own ideas. That’s what I did with my ‘On the Issues’ program on the Rider University Network.

During his three years at Rider, Ballasy has built an impressive portfolio of interviews, which gives him a decided advantage when applying for internships. He has conducted interviews with New Jersey Congressman Rush Holt, former President Bill Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore, General Wesley Clark, former Democratic Presidential Nominee John Kerry, former New York Governor George Pataki, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, Senator Barack Obama, Miss America 2006 Jennifer Berry, Journalist/Author Irshad Manji, Actor/Musician Adam Pascal, former boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, and many others. See www.nickballasy.com for the complete list.

As President of the Rider University Network, he’s a producer and reporter for “The News at Rider” campus newscast. The National Broadcasting Society ranked his show “On the Issues” among the Top 3 Public Affairs Talk Shows in the country. “The News at Rider” won a 2007 International Telly Award for the Fall 2006 semester edition of the show.

He just finished a January to mid-May internship at ABC World News Tonight in New York. He traveled each Thursday night or early Friday morning to work all day on Friday, Saturday and sometimes Sunday for the Weekend Edition of the show. There he met producers and on-air correspondents.

“I had a lot of interaction with many professionals and the ability to network with them. They offered so much advice,” Ballasy said. “I would sit in their offices and talk to people like David Muir, who recently was appointed Saturday anchor for World News. He attended the Institute on Political Journalism also, and encouraged me to do it.”

Last summer, Ballasy interned at WABC, Channel 7 in New York City. He worked on the assignment desk and did some field work. “I learned how to put a news story together and I got comfortable doing stand-ups by practicing them before the reporter did their live shot. You can pick up a lot just by watching how the professionals go about their jobs,” he noted.

Ballasy said his main cameraman on many of his interviews, Jonathan Schulter (junior communication major), will intern on the ABC assignment desk this summer. “Jon was always willing to help when I needed a good cameraman. The long hours we’ve spent at shoots are paying off. I’m glad Jon is interning at WABC.”

“Ultimately, I would like to be a network correspondent,” Ballasy said. “Realistically, I know you have to start lower than a major network, but I’m going to aim for at least a middle market.”

With the foundation he has built at Rider, he is off to a good start.

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