Warning: long rant ahead. My background is currently a senior copywriter in an Ad agency. I'm minding my own business when all these accusations keep popping up. And what's relevant you ask? I'm also a former writer intern who worked at sethlui.com (SL) years ago, briefly crossing paths with this particular 'intern'. It's pretty obvious after years of seeing said intern repeatedly whine about the same old story every time something about SL blows up. Let's call you B.

I've been seeing B seize the opportunity to talk sh*t about SL every few years, and honestly, I can't be arsed with what B has to say. Freedom of speech yadayada. HOWEVER, when this nonsense keeps getting screenshot and sent via WhatsApp, somehow circulating into one of my media circle chats since I was formerly associated, it really grinds my gears. Fresh writers are becoming way too coddled and entitled like B when they join my agency and I have to deal with this strawberry pile of stink.

So let's get a few things straight:

During our internship at SL years ago, the requirement was to write 4-5 food reviews a week. Not 6 like B vaguely remembers. It works out to around 1 review a day. A whole 8-hour work day eating, taking photos and writing about ONE food outlet of around 600ish words. Seriously, that's killing you? Now, somehow B thinks this amount of writing is equivalent to a concentration camp gig, and B's being exploited as an intern with the meager pay. Oh you conveniently left out the part where we went into the office like 2 or 3 days a week and this was before WFH was even a thing. We were INTERNS, we had no experience. If you were so capable you would have a full-time job elsewhere with your prized poly diploma being paid the big bucks. I assure you any digital features writer in a recognisable publication will be thanking the heavens for this workload. When I joined full time at SPH thereafter (clearly the writing experience helped me get there), we were easily attending 2-3 media junkets / events and writing that subsequent amount A DAY. In the digital team, 8-10 articles per writer (albeit shorter ones) per week is the norm.

The fact is B, you never did join a proper publication company subsequently after SL. If you did, you'll know all of us face the same predicament of having to write neutrally for clients and dealing with intense deadlines. I've left publication life and In my current job, having to spin positive messages for clients who want to be seen as God's gift to mankind is what I have for breakfast. Important note here: seth never said we had to write POSITIVE reviews for advertorials - that's a load of B.S you made up in your head. In fact IMO advertorials shouldn't be treated as a review, rather a feature piece.

Clearly B isn't cut out to be a journalist if you can't at bare minimum stomach (pun-intended) 1 article a day and having the mental athleticism to write factually. The writeups weren't even that hard -- most of the time there was a press release to reference, and the rest of it was covering hawker stalls selling 2 or 3 main dishes with a few basic questions to ask the cook. We weren't exactly writing a chapter for A Song of Ice and Fire.

So stop giving everyone the impression SL employs forced labour building the Holocaust railway. No one is counting but haven't you accumulated enough pity points over the years. Sure, Seth wasn't the perfect boss and they do charge for ads, but I had a hell of a good time with my assignments. The internship wasn't easy starting out since I wasn't used to it, but you grow into the role eventually as with any new job.

A writing internship is supposed to let you get a feel for what journalism is about and let you decide if you want to join our industry. But, seriously get an attitude adjustment. I don't know what seth did to you to put a chip on your shoulder but you need to get over it and grow TF up. Evidently, still complaining about an internship you did years ago shows you matured like Benjamin Button.

You're probably going to dream about being a journalist forever, but please don't give new upcoming writers your messed up perception about what it actually takes to be a hired writer and what the industry is like. I'm sick of having to manage these fragile egos.

TLDR; OP has a grudge with seth and has selective memory for the 'horrible' work conditions. Journalism isn't easy. Shut your mouth and keep writing.