Will tomorrow’s US newspapers be made in India?
Posted by Jean Yves Chainon on November 16, 2006 at 10:44 AM
More and more newspapers consider outsourcing their work, to Singapore or India for example. For simple reasons. The average pay rate is a third less than in the U.S., there are neither equipment fees, nor health benefits to cater for, nor any extra costs for the U.S. company. Even more important, the outsourcees produce quality work.
Compare the average work and payload between a U.S. company and Hi-Tech Export, an Indian company that offers 40 hours of proofreading and copy editing for $295.
No wonder more newspaper parts are being pieced together offshore. The Chicago Tribune replaced 40 of its customer service employees with the help of APAC Customer Service in the Philippines. So did the Los Angeles Times. The Columbus Dispatch is cutting 90 jobs as it contracted its whole graphic design work to India-based Affinity Express Inc.
Most of the newsroom jobs – especially some of the traditionally more secure ones – have become exportable. U.S. newspaper companies now post ads on the Indian version of Monster.com to hire copy editors and proofreaders.
Wire stories, in some cases, can be more efficiently edited offshore by a workgroup that is more familiar with the story’s setting. On the other hand, there will always be newspaper jobs that require local knowledge and proximity to the fact.
Poynter.org writer Joe Grimm isn’t fatalist. “The challenge of segmentation is also the key to survival,” Grimm said. In other words, while some components of the job may be convenient to outsource, it’s the employees’ duty to make sure their quality attributes remain indispensable. Global competitiveness.
Newspapers of the future will probably resemble an Airbus jet, a compound of the most efficient individual parts from across the world pieced together.
Source: Poynter.org
No wonder more newspaper parts are being pieced together offshore. The Chicago Tribune replaced 40 of its customer service employees with the help of APAC Customer Service in the Philippines. So did the Los Angeles Times. The Columbus Dispatch is cutting 90 jobs as it contracted its whole graphic design work to India-based Affinity Express Inc.
Most of the newsroom jobs – especially some of the traditionally more secure ones – have become exportable. U.S. newspaper companies now post ads on the Indian version of Monster.com to hire copy editors and proofreaders.
Wire stories, in some cases, can be more efficiently edited offshore by a workgroup that is more familiar with the story’s setting. On the other hand, there will always be newspaper jobs that require local knowledge and proximity to the fact.
Poynter.org writer Joe Grimm isn’t fatalist. “The challenge of segmentation is also the key to survival,” Grimm said. In other words, while some components of the job may be convenient to outsource, it’s the employees’ duty to make sure their quality attributes remain indispensable. Global competitiveness.
Newspapers of the future will probably resemble an Airbus jet, a compound of the most efficient individual parts from across the world pieced together.
Source: Poynter.org
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