intern nation – Frontline Club

Talks and screenings in the week ahead at the Frontline Club

Julie Tomlin — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 12:16:18 +0000

Tomorrow evening Ross Perlin, author of Intern Nation, and a panel chaired by journalist Martin Bright will discuss the internship and the impact of this now common practice on education, the work place and society. Tonight there is a screening of Deadly Catch, a film that exposes the devastating consequences of pirate fishing in Sierra Leone. The event is organised by Environmental Justice Foundation and Communications Inc and will be followed by a discussion with a panel of experts who will examine the true cost of pirate fishing.

The Club’s ‘Recommends’ series continues with series editor of BBC Storyville Nick Fraser’s selection Please Vote for Me. The film explores the concept of democracy through the lense of class monitor elections in a Chinese school. On Monday, in association with the Cinema Eye Honors, we have a special screening of multiple award winning The Arbor, a film that recollects the life of Andrea Dunbar, the short-lived, alcoholic playwright from Bradford.

For next Tuesday’s In the picture we will be joined by Reuters photographer Andrew Winning and video journalist Inigo Gilmore who will be discussing their recent work shooting on Libya’s front line. The following evening a panel of experts willl be looking at privacy, justice and journalism ethics in light of the recent phone hacking scandal and the on-going super-injunction saga.

ALL EVENTS ARE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

‘I have no rights, no security, no leverage’: the life of an intern

Julie Tomlin — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 10:33:48 +0000

I don’t begrudge the principles underpinning unpaid internships or placements. To offer somebody the opportunity to gain experience, exposure, contacts and hopefully some structured training in an area or sector that interests them or in which they hope to build a career, seems perfectly sensible. In most of my experience, however, they rarely amount to more than the routine execution of mundane activities that could and should be done by a paid member of staff or which add little meaningful value either to the intern or to the organisation/publication for whom they are working.

I should caveat these comments by saying I had one very instructive and worthwhile internship with a political think-tank for three months. I was given lots of autonomy and freedom to carry out a number of research-based tasks in a well-structured environment. My input was valued and my output measurable. In many ways it was an exemplar of what an internship scheme should offer. That it didn’t lead to a job was in part a reflection on the hollowed-out job market at the time [Winter 08/09] and my decision that the think-tank route was not one I wanted to pursue.

That was the diamond in the rough, however, with an additional total nine months intern experience – nine months that would have been better spent knocking my head against a wall, ad infinitum, for all the value I derived from them. The tasks would be dry and repetitive – transcribing someone else’s interview, updating spreadsheets that will consequently be left to gather dust, writing ‘profiles’ with no by-line or recognition, opening and sorting post, sitting on ‘reception’. And while some in the office(s) would be very cognisant of the fact you are doing work for free that they would otherwise be doing, others have treated me with little compassion or empathy. The relationship is grossly asymmetric.

Once I finish this latest internship at a magazine I doubt I will apply for any more unless I can be assured a meaningful and worthwhile experience. If I am to endure not being paid, I would at least welcome stimulating and challenging work that makes the commute, expense and endless hours stuck behind a desk tolerable. When that ‘work’ leaves you trapped in a cerebral prison you routinely question what value you’re deriving from the experience.

Are they the preserve of the privileged? I’m not so sure. I’ve known many people, far from flush with cash, who take unpaid internships while living at home for support. That might raise separate questions about the importance of geographical mobility and notions of independence and being self-supportive, but many do the same while working in London [assuming family lives close enough] given the prohibitive cost for many of the capital city. Perhaps the more appropriate question, as opposed to whether they are the preserve of the privileged, is whether there is much value to be gained from them at all and whether they should be subject to greater accountability and regulation.

I have no rights, no security, no leverage with which to defend my corner. When I leave someone else is lured in under the same guise as I was: the false hope of an exciting opportunity. In reality my typical experience has been characterised by dull, worthless, repetitive, thankless ‘work’. Some organisations know how to ‘play’ the system with a constant stream of interns and tasking them with the same work they really should be paying somebody for, be it part or full-time. I, for one, am grateful when this internship ends and the intellectual sclerosis can stop. Maybe this should form my handover notes to the next intern?

The writer has asked to remain anonymous

We will be discussing internships at Internships: opportunity or cheap labour? on Wednesday, 8 June at the Frontline Club. Book here.

The Frontline Club: What’s coming up in the week ahead

Julie Tomlin — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 13:07:09 +0000

Tonight Paddy O’Connell of BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House will be back in the chair for June’s First Wednesday. There are a few tickets left so book now if you want to discuss the effect of the Arab Spring in Iran and the power struggle at the heart of Iran’s government.

Tomorrow evening there is a screening of Revolution Uplo@ded which looks at the global communication revolution that has helped ferment real revolts and pull down regimes across the Arab World. This event is hosted by BBC Arabic and will be followed by a panel discussion.

The week ahead sees the start of our ‘Recommends’ screening series, with Reprieve’s Clive Stafford Smith’s choice Fourteen Days in May, a documentary which charts the last two weeks of Edward Johnson’s life on death row. Friday’s screening of The Prosecutor documents the powerful story of Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the first chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court.

Next week we will be tackling some of the serious questions that arise from the explosion of the internship. EJF and Communications Inc will be screening Deadly Catch followed by a panel discussion on the growing problem of pirate fishing.