Friedman is a hack[1]. Aside from the fact that his primary source for this article seems to be a New Yorker cartoon, he seems unaware of federal law on unpaid internships, which is quite stringent.
This column seemed like just another excuse to promote HireArt. In the second paragraph he links to his previous column about them, as well as directly to their website. The rest of the article seems to focus entirely on them, with two more name-drops of HireArt, six of its founder Sharef, and two of co-founder Sedlet. Between the two of them they're quoted six times, including two quotes that make up the majority of the paragraph in which they appear.
And as he disclosed in the previous column but apparently didn't feel inclined to repeat this time:
> The way HireArt works, explained Sharef (who was my daughter’s college roommate)
If Friedman hadn't jumped the shark before, he certainly has now. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist writing as a shill for a start-up run by friends of his daughter. It wouldn't surprise me at all if we find out down the road that he has an additional undisclosed interest (investor, perhaps?).
It remains unclear to me how I was able to get an entry-level Software Engineering position in the DC/Baltimore area with nothing but a BS in CS from UMBC and no internships or relevant experience.
Also, Tom Friedman was a really boring commencement speaker.
11 comments
[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 40.8 ms ] thread[1] http://nypress.com/flathead/
Look at this [1] piece in the Columbia Journalism Review about Friedman's ramblings two years ago about a "radical centrist president".
Friedman lost a lot of credibility when he advocated for the Iraq War.
[1]: http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/tom_friedman_still_wrong.ph...
This is happening in both the US and the UK there have been numerous stories the the main stream media about this.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/28/unpaid-i...
Even the current conservative govenment thinks that unpaid interns are a bad thing http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/10077099/...
And as he disclosed in the previous column but apparently didn't feel inclined to repeat this time:
> The way HireArt works, explained Sharef (who was my daughter’s college roommate)
If Friedman hadn't jumped the shark before, he certainly has now. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist writing as a shill for a start-up run by friends of his daughter. It wouldn't surprise me at all if we find out down the road that he has an additional undisclosed interest (investor, perhaps?).
Also, Tom Friedman was a really boring commencement speaker.