Copy editing outsourced to India

The idea of outsourcing work immediately brings to mind tech work such as computer programming. But copy editing?

An Associated Press story run by the American journal Editor and Publisher reports that The Orange County Register in California will now be sending some of its copy editing and layout work to a company outside New Delhi, India. It is a month-long trial agreement with the company to see how it goes.

According to the story, the move is an attempt to make the paper more efficient and help hold onto sinking circ.

Orange County Register Communications has struggled in recent months with circulation declines. The Register recently dropped from the third-largest newspaper in California to the fifth-largest…The company has been through three rounds of layoffs in the past year, most recently in April when up to 90 employees lost their jobs. Employees were also offered a voluntary severance program in 2006.

Editors at the paper said this change will not affect staffing at the paper.