In your total ripoff Tuesday media column: the worst media internship offer in at least a couple days, flackery invades the media (moreso), and a J-school student would rather not help solve a murder:

Shitty Craigslist media internship offer of the day: this magazine is seeking "3 to 5 qualified [UNPAID] interns for a two-week project with the option of staying on for the full summer internship." Oh okay. The project? "Our goal is to create a magazine from scratch, with the first edition complete in a 10 day window." Haha! Related, I'm seeking 3-5 unpaid interns for a project building an extra room on my apartment. From scratch!


Reason explores the question: What will happen to investigative reporting as newspapers crumble? Might PR people step in to help fill the void? Spoiler: we're already there, my friends! Mmmm, flacktastic.


A journalism student at San Francisco State University witnessed a murder, and took photos of the crime that police would like to see. Journalism studentry, finally useful for something! Right? "But the student maintains that he was on the scene as part of a school project chronicling life in the community, and that his witness account and the photos he took are covered by California's shield law for journalists." Ehh. Ehhhhhhh. Oh give em the pictures, man.


The FTC is issuing new "guidelines" that tell bloggers that they have to disclose when they're writing about free crap that companies send them. This is a good rule but mostly unenforceable. Anyone can be a blogger and they're the softest targets for flacks looking for good reviews. But then again the FTC sent me that t-shirt, so don't believe a word I say.