Don't Outsource Local News

Is there any job that can't be outsourced?

Now even the local news is being sent overseas. Media giants including Tribune Company and Hearst Corporation have outsourced local news — to content farms in the Philippines.

According to a major report from This American Life,1 several prominent media corporations have outsourced local news production in cities like Chicago, San Francisco and Houston to Journatic, a company that hires underpaid workers in the Philippines to create local news stories for newspapers in the United States.

News organizations must be accountable to the communities in which they operate. That means hiring reporters who work among us and walk the same streets, who have direct ties to the people and issues that affect our lives.

Sign this letter to tell media executives across the country that you can't fake local news. They need to know that local means local.

1. "Switcheroo," This American Life: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/468/switcheroo

Sign the Petition

Dear Tribune and Hearst Newspapers:

Don't sell out local journalism. Stop outsourcing local news and put out-of-work local journalists back on local beats.

We want news produced by local journalists and coverage of the issues our community cares about. When you outsource local reporting to underpaid overseas workers, everyone in the community loses.

    Not ? Click here.

    Sincerely,

    YOUR NAME

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