I wanted to blog about Barbara Ehrenreich's column "Dateline Delhi" last week, but the thought of it was just too depressing, because she was -- as usual -- right. Like me, Ehrenreich was groaning at an inevitable development: a local news site in California was now outsourcing its local reportage.
The website's editor points out that he can get two Indian reporters for a mere $20,800 a year - and no, they won't be commuting from New Delhi. Since Pasadena's city council meetings can be observed on the web, the Indian reporters will be able to cover local politics from half the planet away.
That's $20,800 total, by the way -- not apiece. (Because there'd be no shortage of American journalists these days who would be amenable to a $20k/year salary. After all, you've got to put food stamps on your table.) The Indian journalists (who watch the council meetings on their computers in Mumbai and Bangalore) were scheduled to start this week.
I suspect they already have. Not that I was an expert on Pasadena Now style before I read about this, but a few of the stories on the site this evening read like press releases translated into another language and back again.
Here's a snippet of a scoop titled "Search Warrants Net Drugs, Guns, Money":
Eduardo Mendoza Solorio, 30, of Pasadena area was arrested and in connection with the one of the current cases, police say.
“We are hopeful that every lead we pursue will bring us closer to closure on the case,” says Chief of Police Bernard Melekian. “The information generated through the course of the investigation lead the service of these warrants. The service of the warrants will undoubtedly lead to more information that will help us solve this crime and prevent Mr. Solario from committing any further crimes.“
Does anyone know how to rewrite a police department press release out there in Bangalore?
An even scoopier scoop -- "Double Murder Solved":
...Elias, Perez, and Ruiz were arrested May 15, 2007, during early morning search warrants conducted by in Pasadena, Azusa and Alhambra. The three men gunned down victims Walker and Varcasia in broad daylight in front of stunned on-lookers.
The suspects will remain in custody in the Los Angeles County Jail until arraignment proceedings early next week. Bail has been set at $3 million dollars for each suspect....
For more information, please contact Lieutenant John Dewar, Detective Section.
"Conducted by in Pasadena"? "$3 million dollars"? And a double-play cliché: broad daylight and stunned onlookers. How much does a good New Delhi copy editor charge, anyway?
I don't know if this is Mumbai at work (unsurprisingly, there are no bylines on any of it). And if this is the best Pasadena can do on its own, hell, go ahead and outsource; it couldn't possibly be worse. Many of the folks in India are super-educated hard workers; that's why they're eating our lunch. (That, and the fact that they work for pennies.)
But would you really want your news written by the last guy who walked you through tech support on your Dell?
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