19 Jun 08 So it begins: OC Register to outsource copy editing to India
From Doug Fisher and Media Bistro, apparently the Orange County Register is going to start a pilot program where they will outsource their copy-editing duties to India.
To me this is simply a tragedy. There are those that feel copy editing is the most mechanical of all of the journalism duties in the newsroom, fixing grammar and running spell check on stories. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Copy editors have to know almost more than the reporters so that they not only know when something is wrong, logically and semantically as well as grammatically, so that they know when to ask questions. AP Style, grammar and spelling can be taught sure, but not pop culture references, idioms or other forms of expression that are uniquely American.
From a writing perspective, a copy editor’s job is to make the writer look better. When someone reads a story they don’t look at it and lavish praise or criticism on the copy editor, the name on the byline is the sole person responsible in their mind. When that editor becomes someone that is totally disconnected from the writer, both culturally and by proximity, that disconnection will show itself in the stories. They too will be mechanical and stale.
Outsourcing copy-editing duties may save the paper money, but at what cost? Thomas L. Friedman, I blame you and your ‘The World is Flat’ thinking. Globalization is not necessarily a good thing.
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It is all about the bottom line,to save a company money. But then you raise unemployment and cut the flow of money here in the U.S.A. We are left with less jobs to go around, less money into our local economy,less faith in our own fellow citizens, less trust,less quality work,I could on quite a bit on this. Big business needs to held accountable for sending out work that can be done in country. This is not about globalization, it is abour corporate greed.