[Sigia-l] Redefining what's local

[Ziya Oz]

"When is local journalism not really local? When it's about Pasadena [home
to CalTech and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory] and written by someone in
India.

James Macpherson, editor and publisher of the Pasadena Now website, hired
two reporters last weekend to cover the Pasadena City Council. One lives in
Mumbai and will be paid $12,000 a year. The other will work in Bangalore for
$7,200."

<http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-pasadena11may11,1,7515978.story>

I'm personally not sure if this is good/workable/etc. We have 'local' White
House correspondents from mainstream media, for example, who do an
absolutely abysmal job, so who knows.

What's interesting for me here is that, for so long jobs with a creative
bend and knowledge of 'local' culture like design, research, IA, marketing,
etc., have been considered immune from outsourcing.

I have, in the past, posted counter-examples (like high-level financial R&D
jobs or even Catholic church prays being outsourced), but this beats even
those: local 'news' covered by people 12 time zones away.

So, those in the USofA, do you professionally feel more or less secure after
reading this?

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Ziya

In design, interaction is the last resort.