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MEDIA


Local news reporting outsourced to India

A news site hires two to cover Pasadena from afar. That helps a
shoestring budget go further.
By Alex Pham
Times Staff Writer

May 11, 2007

When is local journalism not really local? When it's about Pasadena 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.

The council broadcasts its meetings on the Web. From nearly 9,000 miles
away, the outsourced journalists plan to watch, then write their stories
while their boss sleeps - India is 12.5 hours ahead of Pacific Standard
Time.

"A lot of the routine stuff we do can be done by really talented people
in another time zone at much lower wages," said Macpherson, 51, who used
to run a clothing business with manufacturing help from Vietnam and
India.

So, on the Indian version of Craigslist, he posted an ad that said in
part, "We do not believe that geographic distance between California and
India will present unsurmountable problems, and that working together
with you will result in your development of a keen working knowledge of
this city's affairs."

Dozens replied. One of the two chosen had attended the UC Berkeley
Graduate School of Journalism. Rob Gunnison, the director of school
affairs there, is dismayed. "It just seems so fundamental to journalism
to be there," Gunnison said. "I still can't quite believe it's not a
hoax."

It's not. Macpherson plans to run his first batch of outsourced stories
Tuesday. The Pasadena native runs the website, which he said gets 45,000
visitors a month, on a shoestring budget from his condo with help from
his wife, a data entry worker and two interns. 

Macpherson plans to hire half a dozen more Indian reporters. He'll add
some local flavor by doing interviews, then e-mailing the recordings to
India. "When you instant-message someone in Mumbai, it's like looking
over her shoulder," he said.

Larry Wilson, editor of the 30,000-circulation Pasadena Star-News
newspaper, scoffed.

"To pretend you can get the feel and the culture of a town as
complicated and interesting as Pasadena by e-mailing and doing things
over the Internet is nutty," he said.

Ann Erdman, spokeswoman for the city of Pasadena, thinks the approach is
a little odd. But "as long as they get their facts correct, I'm a happy
camper," she said.


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