Flash Art - 2011 Internship Ad Controversy

2011 Internship Ad Controversy

In October 2011 Flash Art magazine published an ad on their website, via newsletter and on their Facebook page, for one or more internships with a minimal compensation for a period of eight to ten months. A young woman named Caterina responded to the posting, addressing her complaint to the editor, Giancarlo Politi, asking why one's family should support a person so as to let them work for free for the publication. Her complaint was followed by a brief exchange with Politi, during which she also defended her skills with four languages, arts and desktop publishing. The exchange ended with the editor's response "Caterina, as you can see escorts must now master 4 languages, be skilled in arts and InDesign. Globalization creates miracles". The publication's Facebook page was later targeted by hundreds of comments by people referencing the exchange between the two implying the editor's final note was insulting and allusive of Caterina being a prostitute and also complaining about the apparent misuse of internships. The magazine's editor later publicly denied the insulting phrase in a posting on their website and on their Facebook page, stating that Caterina had maliciously contorted the mail's content, though an October 18 article on Il Fatto Quotidiano confirmed the insulting exchange publishing the original mail thread between the two.