No need to fear for the future of Web journalism. Nor need we any longer bemoan the shrinking numbers of foreign correspondents.
The California site Pasadena Now has a solution addressing both concerns: It’s covering the L.A. suburb with reporters based in India, and the first articles appeared on the site last week.
You’ll note that today is May 16, not April 1.
Academics quoted by The Associated Press raised all the appropriate concerns about this cockeyed concept: How can people watching a City Council meeting on the Internet in a distant land possibly understand the nuances of what’s being discussed?
But to James Macpherson, who runs the local news site out of his home, it’s a dirt-cheap way to get help cranking out coverage. Macpherson, still trying to turn a profit, will pay just $21,000 a year for two reporters he found via an ad on the Indian version of Craigslist, he said.
Does this make those of us in newspaper companies that are currently offering buyouts nervous? Oh, yes, it does, even if we know, deep down, that a publisher earning actual profits would have a hard time following suit — for business reasons, not to mention for the confusion it would cause about which dateline to use.
Besides, if all the smart English speakers in India start getting snatched up by American news operations, we former reporters will be able to find work helping people with their computer problems over the phone.
“OK, sir, now I’ll wait right here while you try to reboot.” I could do that.
