If this trend catches on, I fear for my ilk. A Pasadena, Calif., Web site plans to hire journalists based in India to report on city government and the political scene in Pasadena. The editor of www.pasadenanow.com says the technology exists to enable journalists to watch city council meetings over the Internet and prepare news reports.
The benefit for the Web site is financial, of course. The projected annual cost is about $20,800 for two such reporters, according to published reports. They're each expected to file 15 articles a week. That's a huge work load for a bargain price.
Knowing a bit about journalism myself, I have to question the method. Yes, some public meetings generate news, but newsgathering is more complex than watching a meeting via the Internet. It's about cultivating relationships with sources. It's about having a physical presence at city hall, the state capital, the school administration building or the local police department. It's about creating the possibility of receiving phone calls that start with "I work for the Podunk sewer district. I saw you picking up some documents the other day. There's more to the story."
But you'd expect me to say something like that, wouldn't you? Who doesn't want to protect his or her turf? A wide variety of jobs have been outsourced such as technical support, airline reservations and tax preparation. As a free-trader at heart, I can scarcely oppose the practice. But it can sometimes pose some challenges. Technical support people tend to work in noisy boiler rooms jam-packed with cubicles of people fielding technical questions for hours on end. It sounds like horrific work.
Dare I say, outsourcing poses some language difficulties. Try as I might, I sometimes cannot understand what the technical support person or airline reservation agents tell me. I sometimes wonder if these folks, answering phones on the other side of the globe, understand the questions I ask.
I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, but I must confess that I do not like it when someone answering the phone in India tells me his name is Jason or her name is Jennifer, all in an effort to make me forget that the service has been outsourced or to help the experience feel more "American."
For some services, outsourcing works fine and it can save a grundle of money. But I get a little nervous about outsourcing professions that require interpretive skills. Yes, a digital X-ray of a broken leg read in a Utah hospital will look pretty much the same if read via the Internet in New Delhi by a physician who very well could have trained in a United States medical school. But wouldn't it be more helpful if the radiologist knew the referring physician personally and could telephone him or her and discuss evidence of previous bone breaks that might indicate a medical problem or even abuse?
My point is, yes it costs less to outsource. But to borrow a phrase from industry, aren't we really after "added value" when it comes to our health?
What about our local media reports? Don't we want experienced and well-connected reporters and editors who are able to connect the dots on issues? Otherwise, we will get an incomplete picture of what's going on in our communities.
Sure, we can go the Internet route to gather news, but what happens if the technology fails? What if the Web cam doesn't capture all of the players at an event or the nuances of what transpires? What if a meeting is merely a rubber stamp exercise? Sometimes, the most divisive and controversial events end with a whimper.
And what if they don't? A reporter watching a Web cam cannot walk up to people whose application for a zoning change for an drug treatment center has been denied and ask them what they will do next? Sure, telephone contact could be established but nothing's better than face-to-face contact or capturing the drama of an event as it unfolds.
My philosophies are not confused. Businesses have to make money to survive. Businesses that overspend their budgets aren't long for the world. Outsourcing helps the ends meet.
For me, it's a qualitative issue. Sure, we can fill up news columns with one-dimensional meeting stories but you readers would soon tire of that. As a local news organization, we owe you more than that. It's our added value.
Marjorie Cortez, who has covered many more public meetings that could be described as "snoozers" than "barn burners," is a Deseret Morning News editorial writer. E-mail: marjorie@desnews.com