Media internships are often in the spotlight in the US, but rarely so closer to home. That’s changed recently with the union representing journalists launching a new drive of education regarding work experience.
The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) tell Mumbrella that their push for intern awareness has been a long time coming, with growing concerns “that media students and graduates are being exploited as they seek to enter a hyper-competitive industry.”
MEAA media director Katelin McInerney expands: “Internships have long been recognised as a valuable way for students and graduates to gain meaningful practical experience and training in their chosen career in media, communications and related fields – but they should never be a source of free labour. Far too often unpaid work is used by media companies to take advantage of young graduates desperate for a foothold in the sector. This is not acceptable.”
The MEAA guidelines have been formed in collaboration with body Interns Australia, putting regulations into place that restrict programs to having educational ties, time limits of one semester and the requirement of a letter of recommendation at the program’s commencement.
McInerney hopes the new guidelines will help to prevent journalism and media students being taken advantage of. She says: “Internships should provide practical, hands-on industry experience in a closely-supervised environment for a finite period of time – not an opportunity for an employer to replace paid workers with unpaid ones.” McInerney continues: “The new guidelines prepared by MEAA are simple to follow and will help define what is an ethical and lawful internship.”
