National Magazine Company editorial director Lindsay Nicholson has urged journalism tutors to shop publishers who use “slave labour practices” and exploit work experience placements.

Speaking at the National Council for the Training of Journalists skills conference in Salford today, Nicholson said more needed to be done to root out the use by some publishers of long periods of unpaid work experience, which she said was both illegal and “absolutely scandalous”.

Nicholson said journalism tutors whose students had been asked to work for long periods without pay should inform Revenue and Customs.