Growth of unpaid internships probably illegal

back in 1998, my then-girlfriend got an internship at the WaPo. she made about the equivalent of $48K a year. i got an internship at the b'ham news and got the same as about $17K a year. wonder what or if those pay now?

 

Yes. I would expect to be paid for that when I was 13 years old

Why would you do ANY work for nothing? No one should undervalue anything they do.

If you work for nothing, you're a volunteer, like soccer moms.

 

All the work anyone does for a class is essentially for nothing in terms of pay. It's for a grade and you've paid for the privilege of doing it.

My unpaid internship led to my job. It was a night shift and I held down another job during the day. I realize I was a little lucky that way and not even industry has hours that allow for people that literally can't afford an unpaid internship to hold another gig. I think a blanket unpaid internships are illegal/immoral/wrong is too black/white.

 

Unpaid internships lead to a job where $30,000 per year is a high salary starting out. The problem is college students are still beating down the doors for a chance at that low-paying job that may be part-time.

 

Yes. If you value yourself and your skills, you should expect to get paid at any age. For a lot of internships, you have to apply and go through the interview process, with some competition. If you get through that process and get the internship, the publication is acknowledging those skills.

 

People keep wanting to argue the merits of the laws in place to govern internships. The fact of the matter is, there are laws, and the two groups most intent on violating them are the government, and the media -- the very same groups that should be the watchdogs.

(In the case of government, they are likely violating the spirit of the law, as they often have exemptions to the law in place.)

And, they are both clearly using interns for free labor. (Especially if we include Hollywood in the discussion.)

And, you can't look at this picture, and not realize that diversity is hurt by unpaid internships:

 

At the Gannett paper I worked at, we had, what I thought, was a pretty fair system for the interns.

First week on the job, they learned to take phone results. And that's what they did for several weeks. They'd get evaluated on how they did, if they could gather the info up and write it in 3-inch briefs, with accuracy and be able to make deadline.

If they proved they could do it, they'd get sent out to cover a game. Sometimes at first, they'd shadow a reporter and write a sidebar. If they did that well, they'd get to go out on their own. Eventually, they'd get to help out writing our All-Star team features.

A few of them, at least before the industry caved in, even went on to get jobs with the paper. The ones that couldn't be counted on stayed on phones.

Now, was there "We're going to get swamped, but at least we'll have the interns to help us out" talk? Absolutely. But at the same time, the interns got to see what it was like to work in a sports department on a Friday night, and, if they were good enough, would get some clips for their future.

 

Good system. One place I worked did similar. Of course, it makes a difference if you are located somewhere with a real university with a journalism program close by.

 

I never did the internship thing. I managed to talk two newspapers into taking me on as a part-timer for well above minimum wage. When those ended (first one was a summer job, the second place cut me with all the other part timers), I delivered pizzas because I was on my own for money. I didn't have the luxury of working for free. I still managed to land a full-time job soon after graduating, despite not having any internships, paid or not. Then again, I'd probably have just as much job security delivering pizzas.

 

Of course. If you are not paying at least a stipend, the pool of applicants is going to be skewed toward those who don't need the money. And, quite often, there are racial discrepancies. Certainly socio-economic discrepancies. No one said the world was fair. Lots of people got opportunities I never would dream of getting while in college or shortly afterward.

 

For Anderson Cooper not to pay interns is outrageous and illegal.

When did unpaid internships become all right? Newspapers have always paid low but minimum-wage money to people who come in. I have posted on this before, and the defenders give the "That's just the way it is." That is a nonsense argument.

 

We must not upset the Job Creators. These are jobs, after all. They aren't paying jobs, but they are jobs and people should just be happy to have one.