Outsourcing the News: Hiring reporters in India to cover Pasadena, CA.
Posted in Kansas_Sunflowers, cali_lovin on 05/11/2007 10:45 am by QueenkvA Medill alum posted this link to an LA Times business story: Outsourcing the News: Hiring reporters in India to cover Pasadena, CA.”
When is local journalism not really local? When it’s about Pasadena and written by someone in India. James Macpherson, editor and publisher of the Pasadena Now website, hired two reporters last weekend to cover the Pasadena City Council. One lives in Mumbai and will be paid $12,000 a year. The other will work in Bangalore for $7,200.
Yesterday, I sent over the AP wire copy to my Medill alum list-serve and so far, I got about 25 responses…and I suspect more are on the way. Everyone asked: how can anybody cover local news while living 9,000 miles away?
The web editor argues that since meetings are posted online, anyone can simply watch and report what they observe. But what about that local flavor? Digging for more information with face-to-face interviews…writing about more than what the camera let’s you see – like how many people attended the meeting? And what protests, if any, were brewing outside City Hall?
read more | digg story
Other people on the list-serve pointed out that the London-based Reuters has already been outsourcing its business reporting to Bangalore. And other folks wondered:
….”how low can we go” in terms of journalism salaries here.
Overall, a disturbing trend and it leaves me feeling a little expendable.
May 11th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
We’re a Pasadena based local blog and we commented on the story yesterday (we got picked up by LA Observed and some others). It’s a proposition that seems ridiculous on the face of it…and still seems ridiculous, in some ways, when you take a closer look.
For a local take on outsourcing local news, check us here:
http://foothillcities.blogspot.com/2007/05/pasadenanow-outsources-local-news.html
May 12th, 2007 at 8:48 am
I get a lot of solitication
May 12th, 2007 at 8:56 am
I worked here in SOCAL and get calls from vendors, magazines, and my first instinct is to shut them off(courteously) because I am usually busy.
But when i recognized their accents ( sometimes hardly recognizable), I would pick up that they are from Manila, and just trying to make a living. then I usually respond to their questions and sometimes talk to them in Tagalog.
This is the ongoing trend now, to keep up with the competition, times are tough….
But in this case, I am with you, hope this will not continue..for the sake of Journalism.
May 12th, 2007 at 9:54 am
Trackback Links…From Pasadena and Beyond.
[...] Associated Press article by Justin Pritchard: Calif. Web Site Outsources Reporting Topix: It’s official: Local reporting is doomed Peoria Pundits: It’s official: Local reporting is doomed Foothill Cities*: PasadenaNow Outsources Local News Coverage (includes the text of the Bangalore Craigslist ad) Editors’ Corner*: Local coverage from afar LA Observed: Pasadena News Site Outsources to India Journalism and the World: I’m not the only one looking to hire from India Journalism.co.uk: Local news reporting outsourced to India Ed Driscoll.com: You can’t make this stuff up latimes.com: Local news reporting outsourced to India pasadenastarnews.com*: The news coming from afar Cincom Smalltalk: Dumb and Dumber Neil Sanderson: Outsourcing journalism to cut costs West Coast Grrly Blather*: Pasadena Weekly Dan Gillmor, Center for Citizen Media Blog: Outsourced Journalism The Doc Searls Weblog: Virtual is free. Being there costs ya. The Curious Capitalist: The Indian labor arbitrage opportunity is shrinking fast Reason Magazine – Hit & Run: Outsourcing to India: Now It’s a Tragedy mathewingram.com/work: Covering Pasadena from 9,000 miles away Not as Much Fun in Real Life: Life Imitates Art Queenkv’s Brainpickings: Outsourcing the News: Hiring reporters in India to cover Pasadena, CA Editor’s Corner*: Larry Wilson, Pasadena Star News editor, gets a couple of chuckles out of me… The Huffington Post Eat the Press: India to U.S. Media: “We in Ur Webz, Replacin Ur Punditz!” The Atlantic Online, Matthew Yglesias: Uh-Oh Under the Dome*: Namaskar FP Passport: Local Pasadena news written by … journalists in India Lost Remote TV Blog: Hyperlocal site outsourcing news coverage to India LAist: Pasadena Now Outsources Newswriting From India spill: monument quiet Mobile Blog – InformationWeek: My Cousin In Mumbai Could Have Written That Miss Havisham’s Tea Party*: Journalistic Objectivity May Be An Indian Thing [...]