The 12-week Washington, D.C. based program places interns at news outlets where they work four days a week. Placements have included Newsmax, The Daily Caller, The Washington Free Beacon, Catholic News Service, RealClearReligion, and Red Alert Politics. Participants also attend a weekly seminar at Young America's Foundation headquarters in Reston, Virginia. Additional reported program activities have included a six-week course on investigative reporting from a Free Beacon journalist and visits to National Rifle Association headquarters where interns shot AR-15 rifles and AK-47s.^[2] Though the program does not accept or deny placement in regard to political preference, intern placements are often in well-known conservative publications. Internships draw from the United States and Canada. Each intern is given a monthly stipend ($1,000 a month as of 2015).^[2]

Weekly discussion groups on issues are held at the National Press Club, where the NJC offices are located. Guest speakers include journalists, alumni, and lobbyists that share the NJC's political stance. Academic directors moderate discussion groups following breakfast.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1990s a number of NJC alumni worked with tobacco company Philip Morris USA as part of a campaign to generate public distrust of the United States Environmental Protection Agency risk assessment report on Environmental Tobacco Smoke. Philip Morris financially supported the NJC in order to gain access to alumni journalists.^[3]

Some participants have stated that NJC's internship programs encourage conservative students to enter and ideologically diversify media organizations accused of showing a liberal bias.^[2]

Alumni of journalism include:^[4]

• Ann Coulter, conservative author, commentator and columnist
• Michael Fumento, conservative author and attorney
• John Fund, columnist, National Review Online and senior editor, The American Spectator
• Maggie Gallagher, conservative author, commentator and columnist
• Malcolm Gladwell, author and staff writer, The New Yorker
• Daniel T. Griswold, co-director of the Program on the American Economy and Globalization, Mercatus Center
• Greg Gutfeld, Fox News television host and author
• Steven F. Hayward, author and professor, Pepperdine University
• Michael Johns, national Tea Party movement co-founder, conservative commentator and former White House speechwriter
• Cliff Kincaid, director of the Center for Investigative Journalism, Accuracy in Media
• Rachel Marsden, conservative columnist and commentator
• Jason Mattera, conservative activist and writer
• William McGurn, columnist, The Wall Street Journal and former White House speechwriter
• Richard Miniter, founder, American Media Institute, author and journalist
• Brian Patrick Mitchell, writer and political theorist
• Terry Moran, former co-anchor, Nightline and journalist
• Doug Phillips, Christian author and attorney
• Debbie Schlussel, conservative author and commentator

Several NJC alumni have gone on to author books and become leading personalities on cable news shows.^[4]

• Official website