I understand that newspapers are losing business and money rather quickly, but I do not think outsourcing is going to help the matter.
As many of us have seen in numerous polls, readers are not content with how the media is reporting news. Just to reiterate my point , "The Pew Research Center of the People and the Press" recorded their findings on their website:
Just 42% say news organizations generally "stand up for America;" about as many (40%) believe that news organizations are "too critical of America." That represents a significant shift since July 2003, when a narrow majority (51%) said that news organizations stand up for America, while 33% said they were too critical.Other measures assessing the basic values of the press also have become more negative. Six-in-ten see news organizations as politically biased, up from 53% two years ago. More than seven-in-ten (72%) say news organizations tend to favor one side, rather than treat all sides fairly; that is the largest number ever expressing that view.This is the real problem. And how would outsourcing editing jobs fix this? That's right...it can't!
The writer of the article, John McIntyre, states this exact opinion. He points out that if editing was only fixing spelling and grammar errors, then perhaps it may be a good idea. But editing is MUCH more than a glorified spell check. It is fact checking, and people whom have never set foot in the United States are going to have a hard time making sure all the facts are correct.
More factual mistakes will happen if outsourcing happens and readers will be even more distrustful of what they read. Outsourcing may bring down financial costs at first, but in the long run it will cost newspapers their readers and their fantastic local editors.
God knows I am one of the writers that needs an editor assisting me whenever possible. And I'd rather have us living in the same town, instead of 3,000 miles away.
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