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Podcasts Take Two
ProPublica investigates unpaid internships with help of ex-interns
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Jun 14, 2013
Listen • 7:16
ProPublica investigates unpaid internships with help of ex-interns
The non-profit news organization is launching an investigation into unpaid internships. Reporters there are asking for interns, past and present, to tell them their stories.
A student registers at the Barnard College Career Fair on September 7, 2012 in New York City.
A student registers at the Barnard College Career Fair on September 7, 2012 in New York City. Barnard, which is the undergraduate women's college of Columbia University, hosted the job and internship fair with nearly 100 companies and organizations meeting with hundreds of Barnard and Columbia students looking for work.
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John Moore/Getty Images
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The non-profit news organization is launching an investigation into unpaid internships. Reporters there are asking for interns, past and present, to tell them their stories.

For a lot of college students, unpaid internships are a way to get experience and a foot in the door. 
But lately, the value of these work arrangements for interns has been coming under harsh scrutiny. 

This week a U.S. District judge ruled Fox Searchlight violated the law by not paying interns who worked on the film "Black Swan." Two former interns at Conde Nast filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the media company for lack of payment. 

Sensing a pattern, ProPublica, the non-profit news organization, has launched an investigation into unpaid internships. Reporters there are asking interns past and present, to tell them their stories.

Blair Hickman, ProPublica's community editor, joins the show with more.