For those of us who teach print journalism, an alarming trend has begun at a few U.S. newspapers. Sure, I can understand outsourcing call centers and computer graphics work to foreign countries. But can copy editing be outsourced?
Apparently, it can, at least according to a recent Business Week article. Minnesota’s Pioneer Press is one of the companies considering sending its copy editing work to India. Orange County Register Communications in California has blazed the trail for others to follow.
An even more disturbing example came in 2007 when the news website Pasadena Now used journalists in India to cover city council meetings via the Internet.
Plenty of journalists have criticized the outsourcing trend, including Ben Frumin for the Columbia Journalism Review; however, some media companies continue to explore outsourcing as a way to make up for declining readership and sinking revenue in print journalism.
2009 isn’t shaping up as an encouraging year for college students graduating with media degrees. As for my teaching gig, I fear the day when I must either switch careers or switch countries.
1 response so far ↓
greggoire // October 28, 2008 at 7:56 am |
Hey Dave, I stumbled across your blog and liked it! I feel you on the outsourcing trend – as a pre-med i’ve become aware that most physicians outsource their dictations to Indian companies. Unfortunately, it seems to be a trend in many fields.