Thanks to two blog-readers who sent the following link from the International Herald Tribune in Paris, about the next trend in journalism: outsourcing reporters to India and beyond:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/19/business/outsource.php

Following are some juicy nuggets (as the G-people like to say) from the Herald Trib article, written by staff writer (for now) Doreen Carvajal:

"Urgent requirement for business writers," reads one ad looking for journalists to locate in Mumbai. "Should be willing to work in night shifts (UK shift)."

"Another casts for English-speaking journalists in Bangalore with 'experience in editing and writing for US/International Media.'

"Remote-control journalism is the scornful term that unions use for the shift of newspaper jobs to low-cost countries like India or Singapore with fiber-optic connections transmitting information all around the world.

"But the momentum for "offshoring" to other countries or outsourcing locally is accelerating as newspapers small and large seek ways to reduce costs in the face of severe stresses, from sagging circulation and advertising revenue to shareholder pressure.

"Outsourcing plays a major part in the newspaper industry of today," the World Association of Newspapers concluded in a study released in July."

Obviously this is inevitable. With apologies to Wal-Mart, corporate-run newspapers are now the Wal-Mart of America. They'll follow the dollar (and lose the readers).

So it goes.

comments: ruth@ruthholladay.com