Local business owner Kelly Shaffer, ran into issues with the State College Borough Council last year after neighbor’s complained about her dog grooming business.
Dog groomer describes recent council actions that affect her business from Katharine Lackey on Vimeo.
An article in the American Journalism Review says more and more newspapers are offering unpaid internships, or in some cases, making colleges or students pay for the internship themselves. While the trend is not surprising given the state of the newspaper industry, I really question the long term effect such practices could have on younger journalists.
We all know that securing internships are vital to entering the profession upon graduation, but for students who don’t come from wealthier backgrounds, an unpaid internship may be … well … unaffordable. Add in the costs of paying for credits, which many news organizations now require for internships, and you have interns basically paying to have an internship.
However, I disagree with one expert’s opinion:
The best interns will follow the money, says Penny Bender Fuchs, director of career placement and professional development at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism. “It’s that old line, ‘You get what you pay for,’” she says. “The most talented students are going to continue to seek the paid positions.”
Everyone is still going to seek the paid positions but with major newspapers such as the Chicago Tribune offering only unpaid internships, I think some students will begin to choose quality over money: The ability to work in a large newsroom will begin to trump the fact that interns are paid for their work.
I was in such a situation last summer when I interned at USA Today. Not only was the internship unpaid (except for a small travel stipend), I had to (meaning my parents) shell out somewhere around $1,000 for the credit required to even get the internship. While my experiences there were invaluable, my rapidly declining checking account is a testament to the effects the summer had. (The previous summer, I worked 35 hours a week at a rate of $15 per hour for comparison.) Basically, I will graduate with no money saved up while at the same time trying to find a newspaper job. I’ve already gotten over the fact that I very well may end up working a retail job after May 16 until something better comes along.
While I did apply for some internships this summer, I had to focus on paid ones because I cannot afford to pay living expenses while working for free — the only reason I was able to take the USA Today internship is because I live 10 minutes away. I can’t even really afford an internship or job at this point that doesn’t allow me to live at home because of the economy and newspaper situation.
Back to the article — What’s most disconcerting is the fact that some newspapers are asking colleges and universities to hand over the money to pay for a student’s internship.
“It would be a desperation move, I think, on the part of the university. It’s one thing to offer an unpaid internship..as painful as that can be for [students], it can still provide an opportunity for them,” he says. Asking schools to pay for internships sets “an awful precedent. I can’t think of a similarity in other industries outside of the media where this would be done.”
Tuition at Penn State increases every year and I’m sure it’s the same for many schools around the country so I don’t really see how this is a viable option to get students the experience they need. The only hope that remains, therefore, is scholarships. Hopefully through university and alumni scholarships, students, colleges and newspapers looking for interns can find some middle ground.
If you haven’t seen this video yet, you’re really missing out. The explosion of Twitter’s popularity in the past few months has amazed me as I’ve watched countless doubters and self-described “enemies of Twitter” convert in what can only be called some weird sort of religious-like cult movement.
My prognosis since I started using the social networking site remains the same: Those who use Twitter and use it to its full potential will find themselves addicted to it within a week.
My favorite excerpt from this video:
“But I don’t care what other people are doing every second of the day.”
“Neither do I, but we do want other people knowing what we’re doing, right?”
“No, no …”
Well that and the failwhale that eats up all the Twitter people.
Oh, wait. That’s right, I’m not.
But the College of Communications must think enough seniors have been hired to send out this notice for a Lockheed Martin presentation.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Made it myself.
Any other suggestions for captions?
Are newspapers full of kryptonite? It would appear so, as no Superman has come forward with a viable solution to save our failing industry. Sure, we say ‘Go online! Get involved with multimedia. Start a blog. Draw viewers that way.’ But the basic fundamentals of the newspaper business remain broken. Advertisers are not paying for newspaper ads or online ones, at least in the numbers to support the industry.
And while an industry bailout has been proposed, the strings attached are far too disconcerting to consider.
The Associated Press has made a list of newspapers throughout the country that have cut the number of publication days within the last year. It is staggering. While the foldings of major publications such as the Rocky Mountain News and cuts at Gannett and other news conglomerates have made headlines across the nation, it appears that small papers have been suffering as well — several of the papers on the AP’s list are one’s I’ve never heard of.
It makes me wonder that if smaller papers are starting to cut back production and eventually do fail, where will readers in small towns go for local news? I’m sure the internet will pick up some, if not much, of the slack, but not in the same form.
When the Rocky Mountain News closed, Denver wasn’t left without a newspaper. It was, however, left without a competing paper, which could still mean that citizens aren’t getting as much access to the news as before.
If you haven’t already seen it, watch Rocky Mountain News’ Final Edition video.
Final Edition from Matthew Roberts on Vimeo.
Every last Friday of the month, bikers take to the street of State College, as well as cities around the world, to promote biking as an alternate form of transportation.
Critical Mass bikes in downtown State College from Katharine Lackey on Vimeo.
More than 100 students, professors and locals met on the steps of Old Main Friday afternoon to rally for the Employee Free Choice Act, urging Penn State President Graham Spanier and Sen. Arlen Specter to support the bill that would help workers more easily form unions.
Penn State community rallies at Old Main for Employee Free Choice Act from Katharine Lackey on Vimeo.
Chris Uhl and Dana Stuchul try to live a sustainable lifestyle by producing as much food as they can from their own backyard. Though the pair ran into issues with the borough council last year, an ordinance was eventually passed to allow them to keep chickens in their backyard.
State College chicken owners describe lifestyle from Katharine Lackey on Vimeo.
Christian Pfeifer, co-founder of Skate Penn, discusses the shop which offers the only skateboarding services in downtown State College, Pa.
Skate Penn provides unique boarding venue from Katharine Lackey on Vimeo.
