Blogging for an Intern

I understand that some organizations are hiring interns to blog for them for the Summer. I have mixed feeling on this.

I can see that the benefits could be great for the Intern -- great exposure. And if done well could be great for the organization*

But there are serious downsides. How can this be an authentic voice from the organization if it is not someone who has worked there? If the intern has been tightly connected to the organization or its products, then this could help, but is still not really a blog from the inside.

How much of a chance will the intern have to get inside the organization? If they don't already have a blogger, then will they be ready to hand power over to an intern? Or will the intern be forced to rely on the press releases and over-polished messages that come down from marketing? that wouldn't be good for either organization or intern.

Will someone in the position of intern really be able to call the organization out when it screws up? After all he or she wants to leave a good impression for the sake of job searching after the internship/graduation. And it is hard for an organization to deal with a newbie telling them they screwed up. I about had a fit when a new staff person told me an IT policy we had was bad, and other coworkers have been stressed by criticism of new colleagues as well.

What are your thoughts

-- Andy

*The organization I work for unfortunately is almost absent from Technorati searches (the organization my previous boss went to work for fares better)