Hyperlocal site outsourcing news coverage to India
Cory Bergman May 11th, 2007
The editor of California’s PasadenaNow site has hired two journalists in India to cover Pasadena’s city government. How would that work? The city council meetings are streamed over the internet, and the journalists can pick up the phone to interview people. “I think it could be a significant way to increase the quality of journalism on the local level without the expense that is a major problem for local publications,” said James Macpherson. He’s spending $20,800 for both of the reporters for the year — with a target of 15 articles each a week. “This is a truly sad picture of what American journalism could become,” says a USC journalism professor. (Thanks Judith!)
Adds Brad in comments: “This isn’t a choice between hiring local reporters and hiring outsourced reporters. It’s between hiring low wage journalists overseas or no one at all. Currently the website is populated primarily with press releases and event listings. While I would hate to see news organizations layoff reporters to hire workers overseas who will have a hard time getting the pulse of the local community, isn’t it better to have two distant journalists writing for the site than no reporters at all?”
11 Comments Add your own
1. SS | May 11th, 2007 at 8:35 am
Will be interesting to see the quality they’ll come up with. I can’t think it will be too high, not because they’re Indian, but because they’re NOT there! They’ll have no idea what the buzz is from the council meetings, how will they interview citizens who attend and speak in a timely manner? I guess you do what you have to do, but I can’t see the quality of this being very good at all.
2. MD | May 11th, 2007 at 8:39 am
Publications (online/print) continue to struggle with credibility issues. If this new development becomes a trend, it will likely dilute readership even more.
3. WiggyWack | May 11th, 2007 at 8:44 am
That’s insane…
4. ! | May 11th, 2007 at 8:56 am
yeah, “quality” should be a main concern.
many would do well to look at their own product first.
do “your pet pictures” really deserve prime real estate above the fold… even embedded in your video player???
that’s insane.
2 online reporters is exactly 1 more than some tv stations i know have.
5. Z | May 11th, 2007 at 9:43 am
Wow. Someone’s got a chip on their shoulder. The story’s not even about TV.
6. ! | May 11th, 2007 at 10:09 am
yes, but it is a high quality chip.
7. Doug | May 11th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
This idea certainly misses the mark to a degree because it will be difficult if not impossible to interview citizens, as SS, points out.
But just curious… when was the last time any local TV station devoted one of its crews to an entire city council meeting? And how many have an intern or PA monitoring the live Internet or cable feeds of a council meeting instead of being in the room?
8. Brad Linder | May 11th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
This isn’t a choice between hiring local reporters and hiring outsourced reporters. It’s between hiring low wage journalists overseas or no one at all. Currently the website is populated primarily with press releases and event listings.
While I would hate to see news organizations layoff reporters to hire workers overseas who will have a hard time getting the pulse of the local community, isn’t it better to have two distant journalists writing for the site than no reporters at all?
9. ! | May 11th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
A: slingbox.
like the kpix story below, there’s no reason these 2 can’t get nearly instant feedback from folks in attendance and do a “quality” job in near real time.
this may well be the face of many world wide web channels.
10. rb | May 11th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
What Brad said! - also if every reporter in Print and TV filed seperate web content too there might be enough coverage without using alternative methods. This is about increasing coverage that wouldn’t exist otherwise not outsourcing…
11. Mark | May 12th, 2007 at 7:46 am
It’ll certainly be interesting to see what they come up with.
My gut feeling is that this sets a dangerous precedent - surely journalism is all about being on the ground and knowing your patch.
Here in the UK, some local tv news programmes are broadcast from studios outside their actual viewing area - but that certainly pales into insignificance compared to this!
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