Confirming the Telegraph’s plans to outsource some of its sub-editing operation to Australia in comments on Jeff Jarvis’ blog, Ed Roussel, digital editor of Telegraph Media Group, made the following statement:
“Reducing the cost of manufacturing and distribution is an imperative for any newspaper group that is determined to remain profitable, as we are (…) The principle holds true on the digital side. ITN creates our video content, providing quality and value that we would struggle to generate internally; Brightcove handles our video distribution; Google powers our search; Escenic provides our web publishing tool; we use software developers in Bulgaria and India.
“Newspaper-web companies should focus internal resource on what they do best: creating premium editorial content.”
Similar to Jarvis’ own mantra of ‘do what you do best and link to the rest’, Roussel’s ‘outsource the rest’ makes sense in a journalism industry where partnerships and collaboration, especially online, seem to be the way forward.
So, outsourcing – not all bad?
I would guess the Telegraph subs losing their jobs might be of the opinion they contribute to the high quality editorial content through their skills, knowledge and experience – more so than someone in Australia.
Perhaps they can now start subbing and designing Australian papers?
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