EVILS OF OUTSOURCING

ARGUMENTS AGAINST A SHORTSIGHTED

PRACTICE

Therese RuizDaniel Yadron

Natalie BaisleyMonica Orbe

Stephen DavisMelissa Tussing

Michael BellerLahaina Mondonedo

Journalism in 21st CenturyProblems of Outsourcing

Jefferson said: "No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be governed by reason and truth. Our first object should therefore be, to leave open to him all avenues of the truth".Source-How to Save Journalism article

CREDIBILITY Outsourcing Issues

Rick Bragg, The New York Times (2003) The New York Times discovered that

reporter Rick Bragg relied heavily on stringers and interns.

Business reporter Alex Berenson, fueled a heated debate in the Times newsroom about the mechanics of reporting, proper attribution, the limits of drive-by journalism and the granting of credit to unseen subordinates, freelancers, and interns who contribute behind the scenes.

The repercussions were felt far beyond New York City, as news executives around the United States examined and in many cases tightened their policies.

Bragg's defense—that it is common for Times correspondents to slip in and out of cities to "get the dateline" while relying on the work of stringers, researchers, interns and clerks—sparked more passionate disagreement than the clear-cut fraud and plagiarism committed by fellow reporter Jayson Blair.

REPUTATIONAvocation Vocation “There is so much media

now with the Internet and people, and so easy and so cheap to start a newspaper or start a magazine, there's just millions of voices and people want to be heard. “ Rupert Murdoch

“Our Republic and its press will rise or fall together.”

Joseph Pulitzer

JOURNALISM BRANDVOCATION Examples

Could Watergate happen today with outsourced journalists?

“Investigative journalism cements a newspaper’s reputation,“

Mike Webb of ProPublica.

TRANSPARENCY Argument for

outsourcing Freedom from

legacy skills (reporting, editing)

Turning fixed costs into variable costs

Resources of growth Strategic focus

Source- Mindworks Global Media Services/outsourcing company

WHAT THEY DON’T CONSIDER

Accuracy in reportingEye-witness accountSolid sourcesNuance and feel of

coverageDownplaying skill setDeveloping experience

FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY Chicago New Cooperative "The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is O'Shea's primary source of

seed money," wrote Michael Miner in an October edition of the Chicago Reader. But according to a Foundation press release, the CNC only received $500,000 under last year's Community News Matters Award.

ProPublica, an organization that provides free content for anyone who wants to publish it, is not out for the interest of the bigger paper leaning on them : “Exposure is what we’re after,” said Mike Webb, director of communications at ProPublica[i]. Papers like the NYT, who are lending their brand and reputation to help these new models build their own reputation, could be left without their outsourcers once these organizations gain enough of their own reputation to thrive without a parent company.

David Greising, general manager/deputy editor for the CNC, summed up the relationship between bigger news organizations and the nonprofits as less than a perfect type of collaboration or outsourcing: "There's all this kumbaya stuff, but it's not always easy. What we want out of the partnership is different from what they want out of the partnership. It's challenging, it's something that has to be tended. I spend one day a week at channel 11

QUESTIONS….For those who care about Journalism is there any question as to the winner of this debate?