Rocky road ahead for First World news?

An iceberg dead ahead, or a rocky road? I don't know. But DoctorMedia's piece on Reuters news agency offshoring its jobs to outposts of the former British empire (here's another piece on the subject, from globaljournalist.org) is fascinating - and ironic given the company concerned. Reuters came of age during the late 19th century era of transoceanic telegraphic cabling of the globe. Its early economic success was largely dependent on its close association with the British government and the Colonial Office, and the company was obliged to operate effectively as the mouthpiece of the all-powerful British empire. At one point the company was so powerful that it effectively held the United States in a neocolonial news relationship when it came to U.S. access to international news. Reuters has of course long since divested itself of its overtly colonial role, as it has endeavored to become a truly global player in transnational financial and business as well as political news. However, at least until recently, its operations still largely followed the neocolonial core-periphery news model. Now it seems, perhaps, that global capitalism is catching up with the old colonial news centers, and some postcolonial chickens are coming home to roost.

Finally, I'm tempted to speculate whether many or any of those threatened U.S. Reuters journalists gave a thought or care to offshoring back when it only seemed to affect blue-collar workers in rustbelt towns. It's a little different now that the middle-class information sector is under threat as well. What's next? Higher education? :-(