Interns have been making huge news recently. Just this week, an intern for news channel KTVU made a major mistake, causing a global uproar and raising issues of racial sensitivity, journalistic professionalism, and unpaid internships.
KTVU mistakenly reported the names of the four pilots of the plane that crashed and killed three passengers in San Francisco late last week. The news program broadcasted the names "Sum Tim Wong", "Ho Lee Fuk", and two other similarly fake names.
The intern responsible for the KTVU blunder was reportedly fired by the news channel.
In related news, broadcasting company NBC was sued by unpaid interns for not providing the educational experience they need to acquire college credits. Similarly, other interns are suing broadcasting companies for not being paid, even if they perform the same work as regular employees.
According to legal and regulatory firm Outten and Golden, internships are not meant to create workers similar to employees. Interns are not supposed to do the same work as regulars, and they are not allowed to perform work that will "immediately benefit a company," the company said.
The issue of internship payment is "a touchy subject" in the business setting, said Sally Herships, a regular contributor at Marketplace.
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