American journalists working for community newspapers used to believe their jobs were immune to outsourcing.
No longer. Not since a cyberpublication based in upscale Pasadena. Calif. hired two journalists in India to report on local municipal and political news events transmitted over the Internet.
Projected annual cost for the Indian scribes: $20,800 total for the pair producing 15 weekly articles each. And nothing extra for taxes, benefits, Social Security and workers compensation.
The news organ, www.pasadenanow.com, has about 45,000 “reader” hits a month and derives most of its content from news releases and event listings.
Editor/publisher James Macpherson said he wants to broaden his outsourced coverage to analyses of issues and investigative reports.
He said the use of inexpensive international e-mail and telephone calls will allow his cybercoolies to directly interview news sources.
Okay, here's how you say "Do you speak English?" in Hindi: Kya aap angrezi aatee hai? (20 MAY 2007)
