Mindy McAdams has a post about how many journalism internships don’t pay, yet internships are a requirement for employment at most journalism companies.
I want to know how many internships you had during college, what industry they were in and if they paid or not.
I had three internships during college: My first was at a law firm for $10 an hour, my second was as a business intern for the Chicago Tribune for $10 and hour and my third was at a mid-large daily newspaper for credits (unpaid).
I was able to do an unpaid internship for credit because I did it while classes were in session. I was also able to take one less class because of it and was still able to work my campus job.
The unpaid internship did not impact me financially, but I would not have been able to do an unpaid internship over the summer because not only would I have not been able to afford housing, but I also needed to make money for school. Plus, if you have read my post about how journalists need to learn business and marketing, you would know I’m not arrogant or stupid enough to dig myself into a deep hole of debt for a company that has revenues — at least — in the millions.
Far too many journalists are willing to accept low pay and poor working conditions as almost some sort of badge of honor. Being broke is not what the cool kids do. I’m not sure who told you that.
