City
Write for Free? Write for Metro
Newspapers far and wide are laying people off, so releasing six newspaper staff normally wouldn't turn heads. But since Metro only had six paid writers to start with, and they ditched them all ("hiring" unpaid interns as replacements), well, that's worth noting.
On one hand it's just another sign of the times. It's not just newspapers laying people off, but the newspaper industry itself is going through growing pains - ok, excruciating adapt-to-the-times pains - and it's unreasonable to think Metro would be unaffected.
But putting the paper to bed with unpaid interns who have been on the job for three whole days? I mean, can you even call people working for free with no mentors interns? Shouldn't they be called, I don't know, volunteers or something?
Behind the small commuter rag is the behemoth Torstar, so there should've been some money on hand to keep at least one paid writer around. If Metro can survive this hook-up to life support, Torstar may even look at hiring paid writers again. But probably not before it figures out how to keep The Star viable (suggestion: learn what Web 2.0 is and how to participate in that community).
Not surprisingly, the union representing the affected workers has five grievances filed, arguing that you can't really replace established employees with unpaid interns who are still trying to remember how to get to the bathrooms.
Of course, more than any staff changes, perhaps Torstar and Metro should look at how to make the paper more desirable to read. That might help.
UPDATE 11 February: According to Metro, as well as the Globe and Mail (my original source), "Metro newspaper in Toronto is not replacing laid-off writers with interns. The newspaper's internship program was not altered as a result of recent layoffs in the editorial department." Metro's editor-in-chief, Dianne Rinehart, says that mentoring was and is the foundation of the internship program; the effect, if any, of writer layoffs on this program is not clear to me. A call placed to Metro's publisher has not yet been returned.
Photo by fermata.daily, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.
Discussion
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Ask the thousands of people who pick up a loose TOStar section in a subway or a left-behind Metro on a streetcar.. Everyone likes to read some news while commuting. I'm pretty sure.
Regarding un-paid workers at Metro, it's really sad to hear. I think many industries are trying to get away with unpaid labour. It happens in my entertainment industry right here in TO aswell.
It's sad to see companies take advantage of interns/volunteers, but this practice is nothing new and will only increase with the economic downturn.
I'll grant that a lot of newspapers are now printed on recycled fibres, with vegetable ink, and lovingly put through the presses by long-haired hippie web-offset pressmen I'm sure. Just imagine though how high the pile of only one day's worth of Metros would reach if stacked one atop the other. Would YOU want that pile in your backyard?
Replacing actual paid newspeople with students/interns/volunteers/whatever is not only insulting to the readers' intelligence, it makes a mockery of what is supposed to be an industry that stands for integrity, honesty and fair and balanced reporting (insert your own FoxNews joke here).
Mr. Murrow is crying over his typewriter somewhere in the afterlife.
Not many studies have been done about the ills of looking at a computer screen for hours on end. I'd be interested to know more about how technology affects our eyes and brains(and not to mention socially)
Compressed headline stories(with some ads) while commuting to downtown works fine for me.
I should know - I was one of the writers who was laid off.
http://www.rickmcginnis.com/lifewithfather/2009/020509.html
... if anyone's curious.
"The news comes just a couple weeks after the Metro in Spain was shut down. Apparently, there are no interns in Europe."
<a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/newspapers/canadian_paper_fires_staff_writers_interns_to_produce_news_108261.asp";>source</a>
Me? I do the crossword, personally.
My commute isn't quite long enough to really make headway into a 'real' book (about 10 mins), but long enough to be well, an annoying commute on the TTC.
Firstly, who are we to judge Metro? Most of newspapers are for profit organizations that make money solely by selling ad space and/or subscriptions. That is why like any business they always need to worry about their profitability: either by increasing revenues by selling more ad space (not happening in times of crisis) or decrease cost. Their only responsibility are Torstar's shareholders value and they should anything in their power and legal standards to increase it. Think about it next time you pick up a FREE publication and complaint about it.
Secondly, I don't understand how hiring an intern and giving him or her experience of working in real life industry is a slave labor?
Metro has a distribution of 300,000 copies and if you are a student and your article is printed over there - it is really good for your portfolio and experience as writer.
Overall if you ask me - the whole post is just a way to bash your competition.
I've done my time as in intern. Metro is providing a collective of interns, I bet there's tough competition to get an internship there too AND Metro is an example of interns actually doing professionally work, not just doing odd jobs, filing, getting coffee etc getting to hang around a news paper and see how it works, they're actually working it
Mind you... free paper, free labor seems to make sense.
I wonder if it's free to place an ad in there?
So does Metro even though it is in print you still compete for the same advertising dollar.
Oh and your posts get syndicated by National Post which is owned by Canwest a competitor of Torstar.
That is just a feeling I got from your post and it is my subjective opinion obviously.
Dianne Rinehart, editor-in-chief, Metro English Canada
And as good an opportunity as interning for Metro might be, wouldn't it be better if there was a professional writer on hand to help teach or coach you during your internship? Isn't that the whole point of an internship?
National Post is not successfully competing with anyone for print advertising except maybe the Globe's business section. Their coverage of Toronto is a loss-leader and that's why they pad it out with stuff that's cheap or free.
The day the paper fired their writers is the day they lost any credibility they may have had. Shame on you ms editor in chief.
I can tell you now if I am forced to read any rag it will be 24hours NOT Metro. Maybe you should do the right thing and hire your writers back and get your credibility back. Lately Metro has not seemed like a newspaper but more like a womens mag. Give me a break!!!!!!!
I'm a journalism student looking for information about Metro's decision to hire more interns. Could you please send me an e-mail stating how you learned that Metro Canada fired its employees and hired interns?
Thank you.
- Lucy