Journalists’ union launches campaign to educate industry about media internship rules
The now deleted SMH internship program announcement.
The union representing journalists is today launching a new education drive to educate media students and employers of their legal rights and obligations when it comes to internships.
The education drive comes just a day after the Sydney Morning Herald drew fire on social media over its long-running, seven-week unpaid internship program, which launched applications this week and asked for interns who would: “generate original ideas for reports… while meeting daily deadlines for breaking news.”
The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) noted that its educational push around internships had been long planned and was not a response to criticism of Fairfax’s internship program but a response to ongoing concerns “that media students and graduates are being exploited as they seek to enter a hyper-competitive industry.”
From a radio perspective – With virtually no cadetships being offered in commercial radio anymore, we must be vigilant against young people being used as cheap labour under the guise of an “internship”.
I really feel sorry for young people trying to get into the industry, with so many newsrooms being cut to the bone.
This is common practice for many businesses too cheap to hire staff. Maybe if we had real investigative journalism (not everyone rehashing the same news of the day) people would see this.
Or unpaid trials in the hospitality industry. Young people are too scared to be a whistleblower and risk their reputation so early into working life.