By: E&P Staff If outsourcing is the wave of the future in the newspaper business -- as it is in some many other vital American businesses -- then the future may be NOW. Two announcements in this regard came this weekend.
The Dispatch Printing Company has eliminated about 90 positions and contracted with an Elgin, Ill., graphic-design company to create ads for The Columbus Dispatch?s advertising clients, "allowing for greater efficiency and more rapid turnaround," according to an article in the paper. Most of this work, the company said, is actually done in Pune, India.
Advertisements created for The Dispatch will be created in India in the same operation that makes ads for the Los Angeles Times.
"This is a step we must take to maintain our vitality amid changes in the media environment," said Michael F. Curtin, associate publisher and chief operating officer of The Dispatch Printing Company. "We believe this is a cost-effective way for us to improve the quality and speed of service to our advertising customers."
Meanwhile, John Armstrong, a MediaNews Group executive, in announcing more cuts at papers in California, revealed in a memo, "We informed our advertising production staffs yesterday that we have decided to outsource their work to a company called Express-KCS, a U.S. company with operations in India. Based on our current timetable, this will result in the phasing out of production artist, typist and proofreader positions between December 8 and March 30. This is being done to reduce the expense of producing ads so we can offer print rates that are more competitive with low Internet rates."
Reportedly this involves about 20 jobs, among other cuts in other departments. But an article in MediaNews' Contra Costa Times reveals today, "San Jose Mercury News management will monitor the outsourcing to determine if a 'similar move' might be undertaken there, Armstrong said."
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