THE INFORMAL MEDIA ECONOMY, CHAPTER ‘WORK’

by Ramon Lobato and Julian Thomas

This week’s reading discusses the economy of formal and informal work in the creative and media industries ; and it is terrifying to say the least. As a potential future documentary maker, I am getting ready for the industry and there is one task everyone has to complete before trying to get a job : EXPERIENCE.

“A literary maquiladora that de professionalizes journalism” – Thomas Frank (The Harpers journalist)

Now experience in the media industry usually means Internship, and more often it means ‘unpaid internship’, and if you’re not lucky, it might into an intern-ploitation, exploitation. In this reading especially, Lobato and Thomas declare : “This new freelance writing industry has attracted criticism for its low-pay model”.

Indeed, employers tend to pay their employees too little money for too much labour, or hire freelancers that aren’t professionals. In this case, in can be very tricky for journalism (like in this reading’s example) because we need to consider ethics. “What are the ethics of using non-professional labour in this case?”

> False information divulged to the public or Inappropriate contents are the two main risks that come to my mind when discussing the ethics of hiring non professional workers for cheaper. But at what cost? 

Last semester, Miss Shannon Owen from the Documentary section at VCA came in our class to talk to us about media careers and introduced us to the industry which, did not sound like “a glamorous or easy place to be” either. She described a really competitive and crowded sector where getting a job, even after numerous unpaid internships isn’t as easy as it is -or as it should be. I have personally never felt like I was being exploited when interning, I always learnt so much and gained a lot of skills. These skills won’t pay my rent but they sure will come in handy one day.

• When does it become exploitation? When you stop learning?
• So how far can we really go in terms of “free work”?
• Do content farms and freelancer sites exploit writers?

but also

• Do they provide a previously non existent opportunity for interns to gain skills? Where is the fine in between ?

… the boundaries between flexibility and exploitation can be very leaky”.