Opinion: Is outsourcing the future of journalism?

Posted by Lauren Drablier on October 22, 2008 at 7:22 AM

According to MediaNews Group CEO, Dean Singleton, also chairman of the board of The Associated Press, newspaper publishers should consider consolidating and even outsourcing news operations.

Singleton believes that newspapers should consider outsourcing in "nearly every aspect of their operations," according to USA Today. He believes that sending copy editing and design jobs overseas may also be called for.

According to Singleton, MediaNews is considering one news desk for all of their 54 newspapers, "maybe even offshore..." he stated.

Before making any moves overseas, Singleton stated that publishers are "trying to consolidate editing and design domestically, whether in one place or several, and see if they can match the savings they would see by going overseas."

Some are concerned about the quality of reporting from long-distance. Bernard Lunzer, president of The Newspaper Guild-CWA, believes that long-distance editors might miss local nuances or fail to place stories within their appropriate local context.

Source: USA Today