In February this year, SF Weekly published the article “Must Work for Free,” a portrayal of the use of unpaid interns in local Bay Area publications. Writer Martin Kuz found that many large publications such as San Francisco Magazine, 7x7 and the San Francisco Bay Guardian, were violating state labor code by hiring non-student interns to work for free.
According to state law, an intern must be a registered student receiving school credit for their work at a publication. If a company hires a non-student they are to be considered an employee and therefore must receive minimum wage. By comparing this practice to slave labor, Kuz was consequently criticized by readers for possibly withholding information about SF Weekly sister publications who also hire un-paid interns. (Read Comments.)
Chris Jasmin, a 26-year-old non-student intern, was working at the Guardian during the time the SF Weekly article was published. At the time, the editors called all the interns into the office and explained to them that this was just how the system worked.
Jasmin feels it is pretty much accepted that you have to work the Guardian’s internship program if you ever want to write for them. So he worked to get published and for journalism training which never really came.
“When I was hired they told me I would be going to four seminars; stuff on grammar, copy-writing and how to conduct interviews. We did none of these,” said Jasmin.
Jasmin worked 20-30 hours a week interning while keeping a job as a bartender so he could pay bills. The Guardian’s work environment was formal, the dozen or so interns per semester rarely interacted with the editors they were supposedly learning from.
“I only talked to some editors,” Jasmin commented. “Most stayed in their office and only talked to you if they asked you to get their coffee.”
While working in the News section, Jasmin was rarely assigned stories to write. Mostly he answered phones, fact-checked, answered faxes and pimped out his My Space with his abundant free time. The one article that was required was to write a section of the annual culture guide, the Superlist.
Luckily Jasmin did get some articles published, but it was left to him to pitch the idea (Read “Crime-free Creativity.”)
“The only interns that got things published were the go-getters,” explained Jasmin. “The quiet, shy ones who didn’t speak up didn’t get in.”
Interns in the Culture section were given more assignments as they helped with art and entertainment reviews. The job was less than glamorous according to Jasmin, however, as the Culture interns had to sort through the piles of books and cds the editors didn’t have time to go through.
“They would get at least fifty cds and books a day,” Jasmin said. “For the movie reviews, the editor sees the best five movies and then the interns write up all the other shit that others don’t want to write.”
Before the Guardian, Jasmin also interned for To-Do Monthly which was a more work intensive position. Although Jasmin prefers his internship at the smaller publication because he was more valued and appreciated, he views his time at the Guardian as key because it looks great on his resume.
Jasmin, whose internship ended in May, now freelances for the Guardian at 10 cents a word. Yet because of their extensive use of un-paid interns, he still has a difficult time selling any articles.
“You would be surprised how many articles are written for free,” said Jasmin. “I submit stuff to [the Guardian] but most of the stuff I submit doesn’t get in. They have interns to write that stuff for free.”
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