When I first heard of "outsourcing" in my high school economics class, it intrigued me that we could have someone doing a job thousands of miles away. It didn't seem like a lot of sense to give jobs to those overseas when not everyone in the U.S. had a job. But it didn't concern me a whole lot.
This does.
According to Editor & Publisher, a journal dedicated to covering news about journalism, Dean Singleton, a chairman of the board of The Associated Press, and a CEO of MediaNews Group, announced that papers should begin to consider outsourcing jobs to keep up with falling revenue.
This article says that Singleton suggested that newspapers consider outsourcing in nearly every aspect of their operations, even including copyediting and design.
And while there is some debate over whether or not this would cause the overall quality of the paper to decline, it fascinates me that this is even an option to be considered.
After all, there are few media sources in the U.S. that are even truly national papers. Most are restricted to states, cities, or communities.
In light of this, does it really make sense to send papers overseas? Could people who are not connected to our communities or even our nation really be the ones who will be reporting our news in the future?
Of course, very little has been done in the area of outsourcing up to this point. But just knowing that it is a viable option makes me worried about going into the profession of journalism. They're already laying off thousands of journalists--and now I have to worry about international competition as well?
So what does everyone think? Could this be an option for papers to recover from falling subscription and advertising? Does it worry you at all--do you think that it's ethically correct? And do you think that quality could be compromised if this became a reality?
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2 comments:
I've never understood the long-term benefits of outsourcing in any industry. You cut costs, but at what cost? I don't understand how this is even feasible.
Honestly, I see this as a good idea. If it can save newspapers, let it be. Granted, it would only really work if the news stories being outsourced are ones that cannot be covered locally. Things that can be researched online can be researched online anywhere. Maybe fact-checking, graphic creation, etc. would best be handled in India or wherever if they would cost less. I don't think that any overseas reporter could ever replace local reporters when it comes to most news stories, but for some of the work, why not outsource?
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