Newspapers have not been immune from the trend towards outsourcing their operations, like having call centers handle subscriptions, readers complaints, and so on.
California has the distinction of being home to the most dramatic example of outsourcing so far — offshoring what once were regarded as essential local news functions.
Over a year ago, Thompson Reuters was bought by Thompson Corp. As part of the package, the new owners got Pasadena Now.com, a three year old online “newspaper” in Pasadena. Now the on-line “newspaper” has five contributors in India who monitor city council meetings in Pasadena by viewing webcasts of the meetings.They also accept citizen input and suggestions for stories.
But an entire newsdesk?
That’s something that Dean Singleton apparently has in mind. Singleton is CEO of MediaNews which owns 54 newspapers nationwide, including 29 in California, ranging from the Alameda Times Star to the Willits News.
“In today’s world, whether your desk is down the hall or around the world, from a computer standpoint, it doesn’t matter,” Singleton told the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association.
“One thing we’re exploring is having one news desk for all of our newspapers in MediaNews… maybe even offshore,” he said.
Singleton also happens to be Chairman of of the board of the Associated Press. He explained that MediaNews has already outsourced to India most of the “pre-production work” of his California newspapers — cutting costs by 65 percent.
LOUIS FREEDBERG
