US journalists heading to India for work

The following is from SAJAforum, the newsy SAJA blog - new South Asian stuff daily: http://www.sajaforum.org

SAJAforum's editor, Arun Vengopal (whose day job is as a reporter for WNYC Radio), has a piece in Salon that looks at a phenomenon that didn't exist a few years ago: US journalists heading to India for work.

Excerpts from "Journalists Seeking Paychecks? Try India":


So, what's an underemployed journalist to do? Some move on to academia or cross over to the dark side of public relations. But a few
forward-thinking souls are heading to a land where journalism jobs not
only aren't disappearing, but are more plentiful by the day: India.

In recent years, India's steamroller economy has diversified well
beyond tech and outsourcing, including a big boom in the news media.
Circulation has been steadily growing at Indian newspapers, and new
dailies and magazines are popping up on a monthly basis. Among the new serious business publications that cater to the economic elites (or aspiring elites) is Mint, edited by Raju Narisetti. Narisetti is the former editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe, and before that served as deputy managing editor of the US edition, which helped him lure several journalists from the US.

"Mint has a handful of American citizens in its newsroom, including
me," he wrote me. "India is a fascinating country where history is being made in many respects so it is a fertile place for good journalism. Hopefully some of the non-Indian journalists will have a better understanding of India when they do go back."

Foreign journalists aren't the only ones taking advantage of India's
growth. The Wall Street Journal has a 26 percent stake in Mint (that's the maximum stake the Indian government allows for foreign owners of newspapers). Rolling Stone has also launched an Indian edition, following Vogue, FHM and Maxim. People magazine's local edition is launching soon. However, the growth is even greater in the non-English media, in part because rural and small-town India are becoming more literate and have more disposable income.

In broadcast, the change is even greater.

Read the rest of the piece at
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/08/07/journalists_go_to_india/

Post your feedback at the Salon page or at
http://www.sajaforum.org/2008/08/jobs-salon-look.html