Author: Shuchi
Over the past few years, outsourcing from India has emerged as the ‘in thing’ and a trend that refuses to die anytime soon. While it gives Indians ample reason to rejoice (what with the plump dollar paychecks and job opportunities), there are certain sections of the global society that resent competition from this part of the globe. Several US-based publications often bail out assignments to Indian freelance writers in an attempt to cut costs and boost productivity. Indian writers are more than glad to associate themselves with a ‘phoren’ publication and readily lap up the gigs even if they are only worth a pittance. Recently, a Connecticut-based weekly newspaper gave out an ad for hiring freelance writers from India – only this time, it was a sting op conducted by the employees of the newspaper on unsuspecting Indian journos!
A group of employees at the New Haven Advocate hired freelance writers from India as part of a ‘secret sting operation’ to prove a point to their employers that outsourcing writing work to Indians is never a wise idea. While they might not be wrong in expressing that local news, events and reviews are best handled by local reporters, was it so necessary to demean Indian journalists on grounds of quality and talent? According to the New Haven reporters, “Outsourced material has a “Made in India” stamp on the page.If our owners want to replace us with Indians, all we can say is good luck! If they find locating, hiring and keeping after these writers half the challenge we did, they might think twice about replacing us.” Now, whatever does the ‘made in India stamp’ bit imply? Here are some of the articles that they got outsourced to India, is the difference really so stark? (Notice how each article carries a ‘disclaimer’ of sorts below the heading that says ‘This article was written by a freelancer in India‘).
Moreover, the advertisement for the outsourcing experiment was given out on Craiglist – a site that is not frequented by most professional Indian writers. Are they justified in claiming that the writers they hired were the best they could find and afford?
There is no denying that outsourcing exists in a big way but most companies know where to draw the line. No editor in his right senses would think of hiring a person from another continent to review a restaurant in the city! The spy-guys took the outsourcing bit to another level and ended up betraying the trust of their readers and the writers they had hired. They embarked upon the experiment with preconceived ideas only to cite results laces with racism and prejudice. From their “confession” on the New Haven Advocate website, it is apparent that they look down upon Indian writers as cheap labor that churns out content without giving two hoots to quality and authenticity. Whatever happened to the ethics of journalism?
On the other hand, and unfortunately so, there is a growing trend among the Indian college-goers and housewives to take up freelance writing gigs on a part-time basis to make some extra pocket money. No harm in that except for the fact that these “writers” sometimes end up representing the rest of the clan (and not necessarily in a good manner). Let’s face it – not everyone is cut out to write professionally and not all Indians have a sparkling sense of correct English. Considering this, can we really blame the firangs for complaining about the “Made in India” stamp?
What do you think? Was the Sting operation fair? Maybe it was a case of venting their ire over lost jobs that have been shipped overseas. In any case, they did work quite hard to ridicule a group of professionals who do the same job as they do!
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