Vogue Contributor's Viral Admission Reveals Deep-Rooted Media Inequality
In a scene reminiscent of the cult fashion film The Devil Wears Prada, ambitious young graduates are working without pay for the sake of "experience." Yet Plum Sykes' recent viral admission that her unpaid students work "tirelessly" for up to a year exposes a deeper truth about media elitism that should provoke industry-wide shame.
The Legal and Ethical Quandary of Unpaid Labour
Just weeks after departing BBC director general Tim Davie expressed puzzlement over the corporation's persistent lack of working-class journalists, author and American Vogue writer Plum Sykes provided a glaring clue. In a display of audacious privilege, Sykes publicly admitted to using unpaid interns to manage her successful Substack newsletter.
She merrily recounted how these students edit her copy, write captions, source photographers, and handle her social media—with one working "tirelessly" for an entire year. According to the Trade Union Congress, unpaid internships should involve shadowing rather than "productive work," making such arrangements potentially illegal.
Sykes defended the practice by stating: "There is a big legal difference between work experience and a formal, paid internship, which this is not. This is very casual." However, this description essentially outlines young people performing actual jobs without compensation.
Privilege as the Access Code to Media Careers
Legality represents only one measure of this problematic system. Morality and ethics provide two additional crucial yardsticks, both desperately needed in 2026. Sykes described her interns as including a King's College London student and a St Andrews student who wrote captions "in a very Plum tone of voice."
One intern was even compared to Cindy Crawford wearing a "pale pink Sporty and Rich cricket sweater with a tortoiseshell hairband," while another possessed "miles of golden ringlets" and "lovely clothes." This focus on appearance and privilege underscores the systemic issue.
This is the same Plum Sykes who previously criticized Vogue-owner Conde Nast for ending unpaid internships, blaming "HR or health and safety or some other bureaucracy" for terminating the exploitative practice. The company's culture was highlighted when an HR representative reportedly asked a job candidate about her father's occupation and schooling during an interview.
The Collective Damage of Individual "Opportunities"
Some might argue that students willingly accept these unpaid positions, feeling fortunate to gain experience with a high-profile journalist. However, this individual benefit comes at a collective cost. While Sykes' interns might gain personally from this broken system, they inadvertently perpetuate its inequities for others.
Exploitation remains the media industry standard, with privilege—having sufficient wealth to survive without wages—increasingly serving as the access code to entry-level positions. Sutton Trust research into unpaid internships and social mobility confirms this creates a perfect formula for erasing working-class individuals from the industry entirely.
A 2022 report revealed that 80 percent of journalists now come from professional and upper-class backgrounds. Another study two years later found that fewer than one in ten arts workers originate from working-class backgrounds.
The Disappearing Working-Class Voices in Journalism
As a journalist with 25 years of experience—21 of them in magazines—I witnessed an industry that once nurtured working-class talents like Barry McIlheney, Mandi Norwood, Julie Burchill, and Caitlin Moran. These individuals created era-defining publications including NME, Smash Hits, Loaded, and Heat.
Their pages brimmed with confidence, eccentricity, and verve, crafted by risk-takers who understood how ordinary people lived and what would make them laugh. Yet their numbers have dwindled as the industry transformed beyond recognition.
When I left my final staff position as editor-in-chief of Empire in 2022, spotting a working-class journalist in a London publishing office felt like encountering a bison in an East Midlands forest. Despite implementing remote nationwide mentoring and free online masterclasses, these efforts felt inadequate against systemic barriers.
The Economic Reality for Aspiring Journalists Today
As magazine profits declined and costs were cut, entry-level jobs disappeared, replaced by internships only the privileged could afford. Meanwhile, bright working-class kids increasingly turn to platforms like TikTok for DIY expression—one of the few spaces not prone to gatekeeping.
Consequently, many magazines no longer resonate with the masses, and the industry has grown more unequal and elitist than ever. This represents a stark change from when I, as a girl raised in poverty on a council estate, entered journalism as an editor's PA.
I benefited from sitting at the elbows of mentors who taught me essential skills, eventually becoming a magazine editor at 29 and working in New York three years later. However, my initial unpaid reception internship was only possible because I worked nights for cash and skipped meals every other day to afford tube fare.
The Geographic and Financial Barriers to Entry
Since moving from London to Greater Manchester, I've witnessed constituencies where over half the children live in poverty. For these young people, making dreams reality often takes a distant backseat to surviving their current circumstances.
How can they afford to work for free when they cannot afford train tickets to the next town, let alone spend £100 traveling hundreds of miles south where media jobs concentrate? These individuals exist worlds—and trust funds—away from Sykes' interns, one of whom reportedly bought her Hermes gloves as a gift.
Potential Solutions and Industry Responsibility
Editors and those in positions of power must actively hunt for talent as they once did. Before the internet, they scoured fanzines, local papers, and specific communities to discover marginalized voices. Now, with the internet's supposed democratizing power, what excuse exists for fishing in the same tiny pool that merely reflects one's own privilege?
While it might be too late for magazines in their current form to overhaul this entrenched system, positive developments include Conde Nast now offering paid summer internships. Additionally, Caitlin Moran and the British Society of Magazine Editors have launched a competition to find and fund the next great writer—mirroring the opportunity that transformed her own career.
Successful working-class creatives stepping up represents an essential part of the solution. Beyond fixing existing structures, we must support the brilliant next generation in building something entirely new.
Working-class youth don't require patronizing or hand-holding. They don't need charity. They possess important perspectives to share. They simply need a chance—the door opened just a crack—so their boots (definitely not Hermes) can kick it down.
