There is hardly anything odd about American IT firms moving back office jobs to low cost destinations like India, but a California daily is recruiting journalists here to report what's happening 12,841 km away in Pasadena."We seek a newspaper journalist based in India to report on the city government and political scene of Pasadena, California, USA," said a job advertisement posted on the Internet earlier this week.While the industry has already seen some editorial jobs being outsourced to India, the latest one is sure to raise eyebrows, as reporting, that too on issues like city government and politics, is something that requires first-hand account and understanding of the local issues, said an industry expert.However, the daily 'Pasadena Now' is confident the arrangement will work."We do not believe that geographic distance between India and California will present unsurmountable problems, and that working together with you will result in your development of a keen working knowledge of this city's affairs. This will result in accurate and authoritative news reports," Pasadena Now's Publisher James Macpherson said in the job posting."Due to California's public access laws, virtually all relevant government documents and meetings are available on the Internet," MacPherson said.In addition, the publication's staff in Pasadena would record and photograph all the required meetings and interviews and send them to India through e-mail."We propose to work closely with you to direct you to the issues, research, and references in order for you to carefully watch, analyse, and report upon the city's affairs," said the job posting.
