Revealed: Broadcasters and publishers escape punishment for illegal internships
The Australian government failed to punish a single publisher or broadcaster for illegally hiring unpaid interns in the last year, Mumbrella can reveal.
The findings come despite an investigation commissioned by the government’s own Fair Work Ombudsman, which suggests journalism is the worst offender.
Critics argue unpaid internships price those from poorer backgrounds out of the profession.
This is nothing new. I did unpaid work experience back in the 1960s. It was my own choice and resulted in getting a leg-up into a paying job in media that started my career, so why would I complain?
Yes, and black people needed to use their own toilets and gay people needed to stay quiet or they got beaten up.
The world has changed for the better in most cases, so let’s not hang onto the nastiness of the past.
14 months worth? These kids are paying $50,000 + in uni fees, did you? I’m a great believer in some work experience and paying your dues but exploitation IS rife these days, and it’s not being followed up by quality or long term jobs, surely you acknowledge that?? I hear awful stories from young people and it makes me sad. It was easier in my day [the 80’s]
Having a quick look around google, the concern seems to be that there’s been a growing trend which has seen paid entry level jobs declining to be replaced, initially, by lower paid traineeship positions, and now, finally, by unpaid internships.
A couple of the issues would seem to be (a) the environment in which this sort of unpaid work is being done i.e. commercial businesses (b) the number of hours being worked (c) how important the work is to the overall, day to day running of the company and (d) at what point has the intern reached a level of competency where they should be paid standard industry rates
Perhaps, aspiring hopefuls could be gaining much the same sort of experience by doing a few hours of voluntary work each week with good, well established community based arts and media groups. For example, there are plenty of excellent community radio stations where no one is getting paid. And, quite often there are experienced (sometimes very experienced) former, professional industry people helping out at these places. I was involved with a station for five years. At one point, we had several extremely well known ex commercial radio people doing voluntary work at the station. And, indeed, a number of our volunteers went on to find paid jobs in the business.
Thanks for your reply Bruce – and your second paragraph is exactly correct I think. Work experience isn’t necessarily a bad thing of course, but it’s about being vigilant when it crosses the line where the business is getting too good a deal.
I also agree very much with your last paragraph. I would far rather volunteer somewhere where nobody is making a fast buck, which feels much fairer.
My full feature will go live on Wednesday, so stay tuned.
Thanks,
Adam Thorn
Hi Adam
A very good article by the way.
Unfortunately, as you would be well aware, the arts and media industry has, pretty much, always been a buyers market when it comes to employers being able to pick and choose. It’s usually chronically over supplied with job applicants – a situation that employers will, definitely exploit. No question about that.Who wants to work in a factory if you have creative talent ?
I was lucky to get my start in commercial radio way back in 1979 as a humble production assistant … straight out of school… no training .. no courses…. nothing. But, even then, there were … wait for it … 255 applications for the gig. I know because, I was told by the guy who hired me…. probably to keep me in line I suspect ! I can only imagine what the competition must be like today. But, the point is that, back then, you were, at least, offered a straightforward, no strings attached, fully paid entry level job.
Sadly, these days, it seems, that so many people are trying to “get at us” and “put the boots in” … to use that grand old Australian saying.
And …speaking of people “getting at us”… I’d better return to the on-going fight that I’m having with my alleged “‘energy provider” …. talk about “putting the boots in” … these creeps wrote the book
Anyway, look forward to any updates that you do
Adam, the fact you have included the anonymous founder of an anonymous Twitter group lets down this otherwise interesting story.
I agree the state of internships need to be explored, but I am also intrigued by this paragraph –
“In 2018, it’s common for potential journalism recruits to have completed months – or years – of unpaid internships in order to get their first paid job.”
How is that different to what I went through in the mid-1980s when I spent my high school and uni holidays interning on newspapers, radio stations and magazines – about 4 years in total – before landing a paid gig? It was the same for most of my colleagues, and it was the same for the senior journos above me. So how is today’s process actually different?
Hi Max,
In tomorrow’s feature, I will explore this in more detail. In terms of what’s changed, we speak to Rachel Smith from Rachel’s List – Australia’s biggest media-specific jobs site. We also speak to ex-Daily Telegraph editor Garry Linnell, who got his first job in media straight from high school, as well as American and British journo legend Harry Evans. They will talk about how their first major experiences were paid jobs. So, while I agree there were clearly people who did a lot of interning, there were definitely opportunities for those who couldn’t afford to work for free.
Thanks for your comment,
Adam
Given the inability or reluctance of the FWO to investigate complaints about internships, perhaps a better course of action is to contact the media union. The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance has a range of resources for interns on our website here: https://www.meaa.org/campaigns/ethical-internships/
I am approached regularly by agencies that offer American interns for 3 months free work in music publishing.
Thank you for this excellent article. A higher number of prosecutions, an investigative approach (rather than relying on complaints), and clearer rules about what is and isn’t allowed would all be good steps forward.