E-Media Tidbits

tromblyltd.com Editorial bureaus like Maria Trombly's in Shanghai provide content for many U.S. publications. Does this bode well or ill for foreign -- and local -- correspondents?

You thought that China was good in making only teddy bears and jeans? Think again. On Mar. 24, SPJ's International Journalism Committee published a great column by Maria Trombly about her Shanghai-based editorial bureau, which works mainly for U.S. trade publications.

Reuters has already been outsourcing to India. Maria takes that process a step further, using staff in India to leverage the typically poorer English language skills in China.

The bureau, which launched in her Shanghai apartment, recently relocated to an office. However,the real action is online.

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Trombly wrote: "Once we had the online editorial workflow system set up, it became easy to plug people into it anywhere in the world. So there's a copy editor in Paris, for example, who uses the database to fact-check our payments stories and to answer questions from editors in Chicago while we're all asleep. And a reporter in India, Jojo Puthuparampil, uses the database to file information on payments and securities stories. Jojo is great -- he's the most experienced of my writers, with several years covering business and stock markets for Indian papers. And he writes in fluent English, with only the occasional British 'colour' or 'centre' throw in."

I have been seeing Maria's operation take off from the sidelines, so I can vouch for her account. What is missing is the blood, sweat and tears behind it. Maria makes her operation sound very easy, but it is not. You need an almost pathologically optimistic outlook on the world to succeed in that field.

Trombly is not alone in this type of outsourcing, however. Tidbits contributor Alan Abbey's Jerusalem-based company, Abbey Content Enterprises, provides similar services.

In the ongoing debate over the future of foreign correspondents, this is one more option to consider. However, it's worth asking: Does this kind of outsourcing represent a threat or an opportunity -- or both -- to journalists in western nations?

Tidbits would love to hear your thoughts. Please comment below.