Here’s an opportunity, open to all, to become an intern in a newspaper. Open to all who have plenty of capital.
City AM, the London-based free title, has opened an auction on a one-week internship at its headquarters, and the bidding - as the screen grab shows - had reached £650 when I last looked. The advert states:
“City AM are delighted to offer a one-week internship on their dynamic news desk perfect for a budding journalist. This is a great opportunity to work with the City’s leading newspaper and see how it works from start to finish. From the editor’s desk to going to print, experience just what is takes to bring a newspaper to life each day.”
It transpires that it is a way of raising money for charity. All proceeds, says the paper, will go to Maggie’s cancer centres.
But Graduate Fog, the careers advice website, appears less than impressed, as do many people who have taken to Twitter. “Strange way to raise money”, said one. Several asked questions because the advert is not clear about details.
Does the internship meet the legal requirements? Does it involve set hours, set responsibilities and work that would otherwise need to be done by a paid member of staff? If so, the intern would need to be paid at least the national minimum wage.
Others were sceptical about whether the charity aspect made it acceptable. The major complaints were about the opportunity being open only to people wealthy enough to shell out at least £650 for a week’s work experience. Graduate Fog states:
“As journalism is one of the most competitive industries for UK graduates to break into, and experience is hard to get, it is safe to say that the person who does this internship will be __more likely to secure a paid job in future than a person who can’t afford to do it.
In our opinion, the fact that a few hundred quid will go to charity does not justify that. Internships should never be for sale, or presented as a prize. It is unfair and inappropriate.”
City AM’s audience development manager, Tim Miller, can’t see what the fuss is all about. In an exchange of tweets with Graduate Fog, he points out that it’s a one-off charity initiative, and that “we offer internships at no cost.”
Graduate Fog countered: “CV-boosting experience is simply an inappropriate prize in 2016. CityAM should find something else to auction for the money which isn’t at the expense of whoever gets pushed back in the queue for paid jobs, when this person gets pushed forward.”
I note that some interns are very well paid by companies who recruit them. According to a report by none other than City AM, Barclays bank pays people £5,640 a month while UBS gives its “summer workers” £3,964 a month.