Working as a news associate will help you improve your writing and learn AP style, but you can't report or get bylines.
Pros
You get AP on your resume and will work with the smartest people in the industry. You'll learn how to write stories quickly and accurately. The pay is awesome compared to other places. You get paid vacation and sick days. Half the year you'll work a semi-normal hour weekday shift. The job isn't stressful. You'll see your stories published in all the major newspapers. You'll have a relatively large amount of autonomy half the year on the night shift, covering what you feel is necessary for morning drive time broadcasts. You'll learn about the ongoing issues and happenings in 10 states.
Cons
Not sure if this is technically a con, but there's definitely a learning curve. No way around it. The position is tailored to bright-eyed, eager college graduates trying to get into the industry. And each will tell you they weren't very good when they first started. You'll be answering to several editors and reporters who each have their own pet peeves or preffered writing style. What works in one state doesn't work in another. You'll have to work on slow computers with slow internet and a hair-pulling word processing program that can crash on a moments notice. Night shift. While the work is decent, the hours are not. 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. starting Sunday night. This means every two months your body has to abruptly switch from sleeping at night to sleeping during the day and vice versa. Invest in blackout curtains or black trash bags. Summer can be brutal. And good luck watching Game of Thrones, Sunday football or the Oscar's. It's not impossible, but you'll need coffee. No bylines and no reporting. You won't have a byline for two years. You also won't have originally reported a single fact. With everything you write, someone else did all the heavy lifting. You're simply repackaging it. Let that sink in, and then begin thinking how to spin that for your next employer.
