A Study of the Plight of Media Industry Interns: Manufactured Consent in the Labor Process

Abstract

The media industry is currently undergoing industrial upgrading and transformation, with some traditional positions at risk of being replaced by automation and digitization. Therefore, younger employees who are more aware of the new situation are required. Besides, media companies are facing the challenge of declining revenues since the COVID-19 outbreak has put pressure on the media market. Overall, employment opportunities have been affected in the short term but changes and developments in the industry will bring new employment needs and opportunities. In this case, interns become an important part of the media industry workforce. This paper analyzes the social factors behind the "ideal game" and youth anxiety in the media industry from the perspective of "labor consent". Findings show that interns in the media industry in the digital age are expected to be "progressive", but the reality reflects a conflict between high expectations and de-skilled work, as well as a contradiction between the desire for self-control over a lifetime and the possession of the body. The overemphasis on the quantity of work experience possessed by workers leads to a neglect of quality, and quantitative rationality becomes a paradox of work experience. Under unbalanced conditions of supply and demand, false "labor consent" created by the "ideal game" is manufactured among young people. They repeatedly engage in de-skilled work in an attempt to accumulate internships in order to secure a future of discretionary time.