Canadian magazines kick out interns after
being told to pay them:
Summary:
A row has broken out over the practice in Canadafollowing
the Ontario government's demand that two magazines - Toronto Life and The Walrus - start
paying their interns.
The publisher of both titles, St Joseph Media, was accused by
the government of violating provincial labour laws. It responded by dispensing
with the internship programmes. Another Toronto-based magazine owned by
Torstar, The Grid, reacted by dismissing five unpaid interns. The Walrus
offered four-to-six-month internships in which people were expected to work for
"approximately 35 hours per week, unpaid." In a notice on its
website, the magazine criticised the provincial government, saying it had
helped many young Canadians bridge the gap from university to paid-for work. St
Joseph's chief executive. Douglas Knight, in an interview with J-Source, said:
"Everyone knows that we can't afford it and the magazine industry is just
trying to stay alive." He said he would "love to pay" interns,
but "we can't even afford to give our regular staff annual cost-of-living
increases." Journalists appear to be split on the issue. Some argue that
it offers valuable work experience while others view it as an unfair practice.
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