NUJ slams many internships as "bogus" free labour

The general secretary of the National Union of Journalists in Britain has slammed "bogus work experience" placements for exploiting aspiring journalists as free labour.

According to a story in Press Gazette, Jeremy Dear said too many employers used internships as a way of getting work done for free and welcomed new government plans to improve internship standards.

Dear’s comments follow the publication of the government’s Unleashing Aspirations report on equality which highlighted internships as one of the ways hopefuls from poorer backgrounds were excluded from entering professions such as journalism.

In a letter to the Guardian, Dear said: “While on-the-job work experience is an essential part of media training, bogus work experience placements are increasingly being used to fill long-term staffing gaps with free labour.”

This resulted, Dear said, in only those with the financial security of well-off families or a willingness to build up massive debts can get into careers in journalism.

“Just when we should be nurturing and supporting the people coming into the industry, media employers are exploiting dreams and excluding new talent.”

He added: “By ordering proper enforcement of the minimum wage in the media, it could help make our industry a far fairer place.”

The Aspirations report recommended establishing a code of best practice and an award scheme to create a universal high standard for internships. In testimony before the Panel on Fair Access to Professions, the NUJ said research had shown that over 3/4 of internships were unpaid and a quarter of the 640 graduates surveyed said the organizations they worked for could not function normally without interns.

A 2002 poll revealed that under 10 per cent of new entrants to journalism came from a working class background and just three per cent came from homes headed by semi-skilled or unskilled workers.