Some Saskatchewan media jobs are moving east – way east.
Canwest’s Regina Leader-Post plans to outsource ad department work to India and the Philippines, according to reports by CBC
Saskatchewan and Newstalk
980 Radio.

Outsourcing
burst on the scene in 2007 when Pasadena Now decided to outsource
city council reporting to India. Although the resulting outcry saw them
quickly backtrack
on the decision, the idea didn’t die. In fact, Reuters had already been
quietly outsourcing its work since 2004. Today the agency has 100
journalists in Bangalore who cover U.K. and U.S. business stories.

“In today’s world, whether your desk is down the hall
or around the world, from a computer standpoint, it doesn’t matter,” Dean
Singleton, MediaNews Group CEO and Associated Press chair, said in a glowingly
pro-outsourcing speech last year. Reporting, advertising and copy-editing
are among the jobs being filled from afar.

At least
the nine Regina employees expected to lose their jobs are in good company. In June the
paper reported 256 jobs at Regina’s Sears Call Centre were moving
to the Philippines. Then in July the paper reported 46
jobs at Viterra – formerly the Wheat Pool – were being outsourced to India. Who knew the Leader-Post itself
would be the next outsourcing story?

(Photo: Indian call centre. Soman Saxena)