US: outsourcing local news

The LA Times reports that, using Craigslist, the site's co-founder James Macpherson posted a help wanted ad for two journalists to help cover the small city. The ad clarified Macpherson's belief that someone in Bangalore could still develop "a keen working knowledge of this city's affairs." The ad received dozens of responses even one from a graduate of an American journalism university who was eventually hired.

Outsourcing local reporting is possible thanks to technology. For instance, one of the journalists is hired in part to cover town meetings which are broadcast on the Web. All the journalist in India has to do is watch the stream.

"A lot of the routine stuff we do can be done by really talented people in another time zone at much lower wages," said Macpherson 

Macpherson will help add a local flavor to the articles written overseas by conducting local interviews himself and sending them to his Indian journalists via the Net.

The local press is skeptical. Editor of the Pasadena News-Star, Larry Wilson, said, "To pretend you can get the feel and the culture of a town as complicated and interesting as Pasadena by e-mailing and doing things over the Internet is nutty."

But Macpherson is confident enough that his outsourcing plan will work for the benefit of his publication and the community that he plans on hiring six more Indian journalists.

This may be the first case of outsourcing local journalists across sees and It will be interesting to see if Indian journalists will be able to connect enough with a Californian community.

Larger news organizations such as Reuters, however, have been outsourcing jobs to save money for a few years.  

Source: Los Angeles Times