In December 2013, "Mother Jones" was criticized for its labor practices regarding the employment of interns, as part of the Ben Bagdikian Fellowship Program. The program allowed college students to enroll as “fellows” who would receive a monthly stipend of $1,000 while working for the magazine in San Francisco. Writer Charles Davis of "Vice" criticized this practice as exploitative noting that “a fellow at Mother Jones earns less than $6 an hour in a state, California, that just decided to raise the minimum wage to $10.” Following the publication of the article, Mother Jones announced that it would reform its budget to provide fellows with equivalent to California's minimum wage. According to Davis, a former intern alleged that they were advised by the company's human resources department to register for food stamps.