Worst experience of my professional life - Anonymous employee EXBERLINER Magazine Employee Review

I was employed at the Exberliner for three weeks before I resigned. I’m told I’m the second person to have quit after less than a month, which should already speak for itself. If you’ve spent any time in a professional newsroom, you will almost certainly find this place intolerable. Let’s start with the shady ethics. During the hiring process, I was asked to complete a hefty editorial test, which included line editing a 5,000 word feature (plus creating display and choosing pull quotes). This took me a full work day (or around 8 hours) to complete. A week or two later, a practically verbatim version of my edit—right down to the headline and subhead—was used in their latest issue. I was not told that my work would be published, nor was I compensated. (I’m also told this is not the first time something like this has happened.) The magazine also likes to “upgrade quotes,” which means subjects’ interviews are treated like a game of Mad Libs and edited extensively—sometimes beyond recognition. This is dishonest, unethical, and a betrayal of the most basic principle of journalism. And then, of course, there’s management. It’s a mess: Inefficient, chaotic, disorganized. I’ve never witnessed someone who’s supposed to be a “leader” be so incredibly cruel to their staff (insults, daily verbal tirades), which is a shame, since it is an otherwise talented and lovely group. The three weeks that I worked here were the worst of my entire professional life. If you’re considering employment at the Exberliner, I have one word of advice: run.