May 10, 2007

Taking the Local out of Local Reporting A Pasadena, CA website is now outsourcing their local news reporting to India. Apparently saving money by having people report from half a world away will raise the quality of their journalism?
posted by es el Queso 17 years ago
  • the ad on Craigslist for the position (in case it gets pulled down): NEWSPAPER REPORTER WANTED Reply to: jamesmacpherson@sbcglobal.net Date: 2007-05-07, 1:24AM IST We seek a newspaper journalist based in India to report on the city government and political scene of Pasadena, California, USA. Due to California's public access laws, virtually all relevant government documents and meetings are available on the internet. Additionally, staff in Pasadena will video, tape record, and photograph meetings and interviews which will be sent to India via email. We propose to work closely with you to direct you to the issues, research, and references in order for you to carefully watch, analyze, and report upon the city's affairs. Production: We seek one to two 500-word articles each day Monday through Friday (depending on news that is occuring) PLUS two weekly in-depth Special Reports which focus on the City Council's weekly Council Meeting (the City Council is our city's governing body, it meets every Monday night). The first weekly Special Report should appear each Friday and previews the upcoming Council meeting. The second weekly report should appear each Tursday and reports on the actions which occurred during the Council meeting. The Council meeting is televised on the Internet. For this we will pay you 40-hour per week salary plus recompense for international telephone calls. We do not believe that geographic distance betwen California and India will present unsurmountable problems, and that working together with you will result in your development of a keen working knowledge of this City's affairs. This will result in accurate and authoritative News reports. If interested, please examine our current online at www.PasadenaNow.com, and please submit your CV and salary expectation to: James Macpherson, Publisher, Pasadena Now Magazine: jamesmacpherson@sbcglobal.net * Location: India * Compensation: Commensurate with professional journalism pay levels for full-time employment of Lead Reporters * Telecommuting is ok. * Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster. * Please, no phone calls about this job! * Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.
  • Just yesterday there was a conversation on the ceeb about how it was impossible for a journalist to get a call returned in Washington if he didn't have a 202 number -- that if you were beyond the beltway, you don't exist. Good luck getting a call returned to 011-91-11 blah blah blah blah (and please, ask the operator to reverse the charges) to discuss the city's policy on grub removal. Ceeb's discussion let it slip that anyone in the world can get a coveted 212 area code through Vonage, for an extra fifty bucks. FYI.
  • putting the loco in local...
  • This is the first good laugh I've gotten all afternoon. What are they thinking? I did some rudimentary sleuthing of my city hall a few months ago and visits in person were often required.
  • Is "Tursday" Tuesday or Thursday?
  • Yes
  • Doh, dat's de day next to Wedenersday, of course.
  • That's just very silly.
  • it was impossible for a journalist to get a call returned in Washington if he didn't have a 202 number...anyone in the world can get a coveted 212 area code through Vonage The relevance of a secret way of getting a 212 area code when you need a 202 area code is lost on me. putting the loco in local.. There is no "loco" in local. Am I the only one who cares about the integrity of this site?
  • Hmmm, this might not be a bad idea. Think about it. I get better world news thru the net, via reporting from other countries, than from the local paper (Idaho Statesman.) (A Gannett crapulation) I get better national coverage thru the net than the local paper. ANYBODY in India could do better reporting than that toilet paper they call USA Today. Pasadena may be onto something.
  • Wasn't there some 'war correspondent' that filed his Fallujah reports from the comfort of his hometown..?
  • MoFi is now moderated by our simian agents in India. Langurs make great admins.
  • Great, I miss out AGAIN.
  • 1000 words/ day is a 40 hour/ week job??? Does Hotmail have an Indian site?
  • *Telecommuting is ok. No shit?
  • Is someone from India can do the remote search to put a story together, they're likely using many of the same intelligence amassing tools that we all do. So, isn't this outsourcing just a lazy man's Google?
  • "Google" should have been one of the life lines on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Contestants should have been handed a laptop and had thirty seconds to try to find the answer to the question.
  • So, isn't this outsourcing just a lazy man's Google? More like a cheap lazy-man's hired Google.
  • Thank you, come again!
  • All worship before the Google. And salute the spell checker. The greatest inventions of mankind, next to the fudge sundae, of course.