CALL centre and technology jobs have been the main target of offshoring to low-cost operations in places such as India and the Philippines, but journalism is in the sights of one of India's largest offshorers.
Satyam Computer Services, the $US1.39 billion ($1.81 billion) software development firm that counts among its clients Coles Myer, Woolworths, AMP and Mayne Logistics, is planning to build up its media and entertainment unit.
In the short term that means hiring a group of high-level publishing executives to increase its content management and repurposing operations.
In the long term, expect to see employees of the Indian outsourcer subediting and maybe even writing.
"If you look at traditional media companies there's an enormous amount of autonomy at property level and a pride of authorship that drives the entire business," said media and entertainment senior vice-president Kevin English.
"People will be reluctant to let that go easily.
"You have to get the mechanised and routine stuff like copy editing before you see the editorial opportunities.
"We're talking to people who want us to look at layout, for example. That never would have happened before, and it gets us a step closer to the editorial side."
Like most things to do with offshoring, Britain is more advanced than Australia. Global wire service Reuters moved some financial research to a centre in India in 2004.
Satyam is targeting the low-hanging fruit first, concentrating on advising publishers on how to use the gigabytes of old articles they store in databases.
Creating content rather than just reworking it is, however, the long-term goal.
The company is not underestimating the challenges it faces in convincing media companies, especially large and more traditional ones, of the advantages of shifting work offshore.
"Media companies are a little different in that they have not truly embraced outsourcing," Mr English said. "The closer you get to editorial the more people resist it.
"We're beginning conversations right now, however, and that's an indication of the future, especially for news aggregators such as Google and Yahoo. Pulling the information together is a mechanical process that may be outsourced."
