Mummy blogging site Mamamia has found itself in hot water after it offered a two-week internship at a charity auction that was ultimately snapped-up for $10,000.
The site – owned by media personality Mia Freedman – has in the past been accused of not paying writing staff and taking advantage of interns.
The auction was held at a charity lunch in Sydney yesterday and organised by the Women for the World fundraising group for the Catholic charity Caritas Australia.
The offer of the internship was advertised at the event as: “Envisage yourself working alongside a senior editor with opportunities to pitch original ideas, harness social media skills, work with online media, and gain exclusive insights. Mamamia is Australia’s largest independent women’s website offering a three month, one day a week internship or two week intensive internship to the adventurous individual.”
And worse was to come. It’s value was advertised as “priceless” and “kindly donated by Mia Freedman”.
That said, it quickly sold, with one lucky buck keen to take up the offer for a cool $10,000. (B&T has updated this story). It has been revealed that the “lucky” winner in the auction was 22-year-old first year student Hayley Campbell who clearly has a “no money/no object view” of her career progression. “Am very much looking forward to my internship at @Mamamia. Money is not a concern, looking forward to the experience,” the self-described “passionate about sports journalism and media” enthusiast, declared on social media.
And cue the inevitable social media backlash:
Comedian Ben Pobjie tweeted: “We can take comfort in the fact that the kind of person who’d pay 10 grand to intern at Mamamia is the kind of person who deserves to.”
While Daily Mail journalist Lauren Ingram wrote: “I’d pay $10k to never have to work at Mamamia.”
Mamamia editor-in-chief Kate De Brito told Guardian Australia, “It didn’t enter our minds when we were approached … that we would be accused of benefiting from the process.
“The benefit for Mamamia comes in making contact with bright, talented women who are keen to work in media.
“We are proud of the fact that many of our permanent Mamamia staff began their careers as interns with the company. We are also hugely proud of our intern program, it’s a big resource commitment for us and we were happy to extend it in this instance to raise $10k for charity,” De Brito was quoted as saying.
