Outsourcing the news
When I left daily journalism in 2001, I thought I was taking a hiatus. I figured having a couple years off to teach would re-ignite the spark that had burned so brightly when I entered the field in 1988.
Looking back, I see I left just as newspapers began collapsing. My appreciation for the importance of the medium grew as I repeatedly taught students - journalism majors - who didn't read the paper, didn't watch television, couldn't understand the difference between an opinion and a fact. (And didn't understand the importance of having an informed opinion.) I began to see that newspapers, the last medium serving a general audience, were endangered.
And then Knight-Ridder was dissected like a specimen in a high-school biology class.
Nevertheless, I clung to a dream: I'd return to newspaper one day. Well, I've released that fantasy. I call myself an independent journalist because I know I'll probably never get back into a newsroom.
Here's the story that convinced me "Copyediting? Ship the Work Out to India? (Thanks to Romenesko for bringing this story to my attention.)
I'm not surprised: after all, I'm a freelancer who has been making a living from out-sourced journalism for the past two or three years. Isn't it ironic, though: as newspapers/content companies tout hyper-local as a way to keep consumers, the powers-that-be hire contract workers who are at least two continents away.
So I'm pondering the future of journalism. For me, it's become a collection of skills that apply to various tasks. When I write curriculum for fifth-graders, I'm guided by the 5Ws and 1H I learned as a journalist. When I write adaptations of traditional folktales, I use the narrative techniques I learned as a reporter.
Yes, I blog. And I can blog hard or soft news. But I'm talking to what, dozens of folks if I'm lucky? News outlets reach hundreds of thousands - even now.
(more to come)
