Twitter dunks on concept of unpaid internships

[Flip Wilson]

The Twitter reaction was hysterical, but this conversation is so 2015.

A more pertinent discussion would be the morality/ethics of college admins and professional journos encouraging anyone to enter this industry in its current state....

I've been teaching college journalism for 16 years, and our graduates are getting jobs, and some are getting jobs at newspapers. Most of our students are going into public relations, and the jobs are plentiful there, and our graduates who are interested in broadcast journalism are getting jobs and moving to bigger markets pretty quickly. It's still a viable major, even though newspapers aren't. (And I'm an old newspaper guy. I love print, but I pay attention to the state of the industry so I can know what I'm talking about when I'm talking to prospective students and their parents about what to expect after the student graduates.)

 

[Severian]

The Twitter overreaction

The Twitter reaction

We live in a clown world.

 

[Mngwa]

My company eliminated unpaid internships ten years ago after concluding they violated federal law.

I thought they all disappeared then. I was surprised to learn that wasn't true.

 

[Severian]

some are getting jobs at newspapers.

Where? Small-town dailies with impoverished salaries or a regional daily owned by private equity that'll eliminate said job in a few years?

 

[playthrough]

That's awesome that the pretty white girl from a wealthy family whose chili mogul grandfather paid for her college education was able to bootstrap her way into a gig. If the rich girl can take an unpaid internship, why can't you?

I'm not a guy who gets hung up on titles, but I'm damn envious of "chili mogul."

 

[GAWalker]

I've been teaching college journalism for 16 years, and our graduates are getting jobs, and some are getting jobs at newspapers. Most of our students are going into public relations, and the jobs are plentiful there, and our graduates who are interested in broadcast journalism are getting jobs and moving to bigger markets pretty quickly. It's still a viable major, even though newspapers aren't. (And I'm an old newspaper guy. I love print, but I pay attention to the state of the industry so I can know what I'm talking about when I'm talking to prospective students and their parents about what to expect after the student graduates.)

I think it's notable you use "job" instead of "career."

I'm sure there are plenty of low-wage jobs available for bright-eyed, naïve young adults willing to exploit themselves for any opportunity at their dream job. But can you in good faith encourage someone to try to make a career in this field from 2020-2050, particularly considering the almost certainly superior ROI one can expect from studying just about any other subject at a university nowadays?

 

[Oggiedoggie]

I'm not a guy who gets hung up on titles, but I'm damn envious of "chili mogul."

I'm pretty sure that a chili mogul is something you ski through with a spoon.

 

[MeanGreenATO]

But can you in good faith encourage someone to try to make a career in this field from 2020-2050, particularly considering the almost certainly superior ROI one can expect from studying just about any other subject at a university nowadays?

I think it's the duty of the current generation to properly inform the next batch of journos of the evils of the business -- the lack of pay, the instability, bad hours, general resentment from readers/sources, etc. And if people still get into it anyway, so be it. Many people told me I shouldn't have done it after '08. I knew the risks and did it anyways. Figured it was worth giving it a shot.

 

[Flip Wilson]

I think it's notable you use "job" instead of "career."

I'm sure there are plenty of low-wage jobs available for bright-eyed, naïve young adults willing to exploit themselves for any opportunity at their dream job. But can you in good faith encourage someone to try to make a career in this field from 2020-2050, particularly considering the almost certainly superior ROI one can expect from studying just about any other subject at a university nowadays?

It's not particularly notable that I used "job" instead of "career." You have to get a job to start a career. Your first step out of college isn't a "career." Your first step out of college is a "job," which launches a career.

Yes, I can, in fact, encourage students who choose to major in journalism. Like I said in my original post, most of our students are interested in public relations, and there are plenty of PR jobs -- the first step toward a career -- out there. We don't push our students into newspapers or broadcast or PR or any other field. I tell my students every semester that the newspaper industry is, to put it mildly, struggling. When we host prospective students and their parents, I tell them the same thing. We're not hiding the struggles of the industry from our students. Most of my colleagues and I are cynical ex-journalists who are just as pissed off that the industry has gone the way it has as it seems many of y'all are. But we're good at what we do, and part of what we do is help our students figure out what they want to do in their careers.

And I have plenty of former students who are out working in their careers making more money than I am, and I am proud as heck of them.

 

[Flip Wilson]

And back to the original topic of this thread: I absolutely hate unpaid internships. I get emails all the time asking me to pass along to my students internship "opportunities" that I can tell, by the way they're worded, that they are unpaid. I decline to pass those along to my students. I'm more than happy to pass along internships and other real opportunities that pay real money.

 

[Fredrick]

Unpaid internships ... make me sad/mad/angry/disgusted at the world. Any company that has unpaid interns, well that's a horrible company. Pay the kids who are working for you or don't bring interns aboard. Thank you.

 

[Cosmo]

My time as an intern was 25 years ago and was unpaid (but it was for high school credit). Are unpaid internships still a thing?

Our association has one unpaid "internship" where a kid from a local college comes in and helps in January for a couple of weeks, mostly with office stuff. It's worth a full class worth of credit to the student though, so it works out for them. Our three interns (two summer and one yearlong) are paid and paid well, thanks to funding and grants from the USGA.