Outsourcing media work
Outsourcing work to other countries is nothing new – heck, even I hire people to do odd jobs for me – but when it comes to journalism, you don’t expect a newspaper’s reporters to be working from another country. It isn’t just call centers that are hiring staff in India.
The Los Angeles Times recently hired a $12,000-a-year reporter who lives in Mumbai. Another, who lives in Bangalore, was also hired.
Then there’s the Pasadena website (“All Pasadena, All the Time”) that took on a staffer member from India.
Is this the future of the media, given the enormous pressure that newspapers and magazines are under with sales tumbling and cutbacks being made across the board? At first I thought the whole idea was mad. How can someone write about a place in which they don’t live? Then I remembered that many journalists at some point write about places they haven’t been.
Andrew also wrote about this topic, saying, “Why can’t Thailand grab a share of this business too? The Kingdom has some talented journalists and designers, and costs are low.”
While such a move would be a serious boon for journalism in Thailand, I have reservations about whether those fluent in English would be tempted by this kind of work when there is more money to be made elsewhere. Andrew points out that there are very few media companies who could handle such work, but the way I see it, it doesn’t take entire media companies to make this possible.
If a US company hires someone in Thailand for this kind of work, paying that person about 30,000 baht a month, then surely that person doesn’t need an entire team behind them.
Do you think Thai people would go for this of work?
June 30th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Read the post or the Nation.
If they can’t manage to find journalists and editors to use English properly on a consistent basis, I don’t know if people with such qualifications are to be found in Thailand.
Actually, I take that back. There are plenty of Thais and foreigners who are excellent writers and have a better command of English than I do. The problem is, not very many of them are willing to work for 30k.
Think about it. Most Thais who speak/read/write English at a near-fluent level have studied overseas… Mom and Dad invested 4-5 million baht in their education… do you think they’re working for 30k a month or pursuing a career in a field that has wages this low?
July 1st, 2008 at 1:19 am
No matter how much you pay a non-English journalist (and I know a few here that are earning 150,000 baht per month +) you still need that native English editoral touch at some point in the process.
There ARE talented English journalists in Thailand outside The Bangkok Post and The Nation, and making a reasonable living. Outsourcing editorial work to Thailand is already happening (my company is one example), and there is a lot of potential to expand this business.
July 1st, 2008 at 2:04 am
I see what you mean, Andrew, but in the case of hiring a single journalist, wouldn’t the native-English touch come after the reporter’s stage, back in the US?
And yes, Paul, there is a lot more than 30k a month to be made for people fluent in English a lot of the time.
Interesting concept anyway. My focus for this post is more the outsourcing by newspapers looking to employ reporters.
July 1st, 2008 at 10:50 am
I think there’s a way you could make something like this work but it would need to be with native English speakers. As others have pointed out, Thais with high enough English proficiency to write for a newspaper probably invested too much money in their education to take a low paying job.
That being said, a lot of farangs who have a choice between teaching for 30,000 baht a month or writing articles for 30,000 baht a month would probably jump at the opportunity as they could do the job from home and not have the hassle of going to and from a classroom every day.
July 1st, 2008 at 11:56 pm
I have to disagree with ‘BIlly Bangkok’. Teachers are not journalists and, similarly as a journalist I would never consider teaching. I am not qualified to do so, and I would only ever employ trained journalists to undertake editorial work. It’s so much more than just writing; it’s style and law and … I could go on. And for those skills you’ll have to pay a lot more than 30,000 baht per month.
Matt, there will always be options for freelancers but what I’m talking about is the wholesale outsourcing of the entire production process - sub editing through to design and output. That’s being done here in Thailand already with experienced Thai staff and one native English journalist, and there is a lot more potential to develop this business.
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:05 am
Ah I getcha. Yes, that would make sense.