There are thousands of bright young men and women who are distantly related to Rupert Murdock or some popular media news anchor and aspire to an internship in media. All of them are educated, some of them are talented, and if not that, at least skillful. That narrows the available slots considerably for unknowns.

There are a few fundamentals worth mentioning before you push your resume thither and yon in hopes of impressing the general media and specifically the entertainment industry with the elegance of your prose and the profundity of your wit.

The conventional wisdom is that media internships, like pages in Congress, are limited to those with connections rather than raw talent. But not always. With determination, a talented person can approach newspaper editors, local TV directors and producers, newsletter and magazine editors and Internet blogs to find a niche and gain experience. The pay sucks and the competition is vicious, but those few who get in can find personal rewards and vocational fulfillment for as long as they can stand the heat.

That said, if you don't know the difference between a hammer and a nail, don't become a carpenter's apprentice. Likewise, if you don't read at the speed of light and write like Jeannette Walls, don't aspire to media journalism.

So before you hit every watering hole frequented by your favorite newshounds, there are ten basics in media communications against which you should check yourself for awareness if not proficiency; things I've learned over decades of writing in many venues including technical, advertising, promotional, business and literary writing.

First: know your subject. There is little point in writing about issues or matters about which you know little and can impart nothing of substance.

Second: know your audience. Different readers expect and demand your writing to demonstrate knowledge of the subject matter equivalent to their own and something that enhances their informational needs or improves their understanding of the subject at hand. Don't waste your time or theirs; give them what they're paying for.

Third: understand your market. This is similar to the second but differs in that writing a Masters dissertation isn't the same as writing a 30-second commercial. A successful academic treatise is rife with innovative scholarship while a good commercial is gauged by compacting words and phrases that quickly inspire emotion, interest and impact, impact, impact.

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