I’ve just seen this on the Journobiz forum. Sadly, someone out there will do this for them. In some ways, it sums up everything that is wrong about the media industry:

TheMoveChannel.com, the leading international and UK property portal, is looking for an editorial intern to assist the property news editor and marketing manager.

We are looking for an enthusiastic and friendly person willing to turn their hand to a wide range of editorial tasks, from compiling daily news roundups, to writing global property features and news articles to sourcing and editing images.

We would like someone with a ‘can do’ attitude who is interested in gaining some excellent experience in online editorial.

Interest in property and travel would be an advantage, but being keen is far more important.

Ideally we would like to find someone who can commit to a period of three months or even longer if possible.

We are based in Shad Thames, just by Tower Bridge, which is close to both Tower Hill and London Bridge tubes.

This internship is a full time position, from 9am to 6pm Monday to Friday, and is unpaid.

Please contact the property news editor Catherine@themovechannel.com if you are interested. We would need someone to start on or around the week commencing November 10th 2008.

Let’s dissect this a little.

The hours — longer than a usual working day.
The experience — Much better get two weeks on a publication people have heard of.
The term — three months?! Even longer if possible? That translates to three months… and then whatever they can get away with until the ‘lucky’ intern gets wise to their game.

Let’s be perfectly clear about this. I’m not against working for free early in your career. But this is not experience, or an internship. It’s work. If TheMoveChannel needs this person that much, they should pay for them.

When the office is messy, do they get a voluntary cleaner? If the toilet breaks, do they get an internship plumber?

No.

I’ve forwarded this on to the NUJ. It’s about time we all put a stop to this outrageous practice within our industry.