Washington Post Executive Editor Marty Baron took issue with New York Times media writer David Carr‘s story on the changing state of media internships Sunday night. The story detailed how the concept of internships is moving in a new direction, with the onset of lawsuits and all. (Both Hearst and Condé Nast have been sued for not paying their interns.)
Baron pointed out on Twitter that Carr missed mentioning several paid internships being offered at – where else? – The Washington Post. He wrote, “There are many great paid news internships unmentioned by [Carr in the NYT story].” He linked to this internal advertising on WaPo internships.
Come on, Carr, how about being a PR machine for WaPo‘s internships? How about mentioning all the exceptions and not just the wonderful paid internships (they’re actually called “fellowships”) being offered by Atlantic Media, which really must have burned Baron’s ass, huh? His comment on Twitter is reminiscent of a child being left out of a Pin the Tail on the Donkey game at a birthday party. Come on, Carr, where’s my mention?
The point of Carr’s story was the peril all publications face these days by not paying their interns. As far as we know, Carr is not moonlighting for WaPo‘s PR department.