Montgomery axes three summer interns before they start

Since when did media companies become interested in journalism, Bump?

 

Even if I were to take so cynical a view, I would say that media companies are, or should be, interested in staying in business. Failing to develop talent is not a step in that direction.

 

I don't even think they are interested in staying in business. Corporate says make budget. So the publisher's only concern is making budget. Not the future of the paper.

 

I'm amazed that a Gannett paper was actually planning to pay their interns. Some of them work them to death for free. The one nearest to me now has a "communities" page with stories from unpaid columnists, none of whom have journalism training -- one perhaps self-published a book in the past -- but all do it just to see their name in print, and Gannett loves 'em.

 

Huck, what the story meant is that Schurz Communications has 13 interns, not just the Bloomington paper. If a paper needs that many interns, counts on that much unpaid help, that takes "spawn of Satan" to a whole 'nother level.

Not that axing three interns who have made the commitment to working at your paper for the summer instead of yukking it up at South Padre makes you any less satanic...

 

This is a hell of an idea and I don't think we're too far from seeing it materialize. If anyone I know outside the business asks me who can put together the company newsletter, get the company mission in the news, plan press conferences and so forth, I will point them in the direction of this business. The people hit every deadline, are fastidious about grammar, punctuation, spelling and facts, and work very hard for their money. Who wouldn't want that on the payroll?

 

Yeah, who besides newspaper publishers?

 

Honestly, if I'm one of those interns, I'd seriously think about a career change.

 

This is one thing that scares me. The more we move closer to what people can find on any message board, blog or news group on the Internet, then the more we are telling them that we're irrelevant, that we're not worth paying for anymore.

We shouldn't be trying to be like "regular folks." We should serve them -- well.

We should be saying, "We're not like your neighbor and his cousin and their friend who blogs. We have standards, ethics, a tradition earned and maintained over decades, a commitment to fairness and accuracy, and we're painfully and gratefully aware of many who laid the foundation for us by spending their lives learning and shaping what is real journalism, real reporting, real news gathering. You get what you pay for, and in what we do, we're better than you are. See?"

And then you do a kick-ass job and prove your point. Make your paper indispensable.

You don't save yourself by giving a column to someone off the streets to save a few bucks and score P.R. points.

 

Couple interns in the digital media department?

 

What an awkward turn of events in Montgomery. Not unusual, but awkward nonetheless.

 

It's bad PR ... but given the principals in the situation, I'm not shocked by that.