This has sparked a tremendous debate within the newspaper business. While one side argues that there’s no way something as connected to local language, geography, history and cultural knowledge can be handled from half a world away, the other side maintains that companies have successfully outsourced all types of business operations to India, there’s no reason newspapers can’t do the same by using highly competent Indian business partners, and people who think otherwise are being xenophobic.

In his weekly column on Poynter Online, noted Poynter writing coach Roy Peter Clark puts himself squarely in the anti-outsourcing camp. In the column, From Rim Editor to Ram the Editor, St. Petersburg, Florida, based Clark claims that while Indian editors may be very good at what they do, copy editors need to be part of the local fabric of the community to do their jobs well. He writes:

I need copy editors to know that Eva Longoria is not the wife of Tampa Bay Rays baseball phenom Evan Longoria. I need them to know that a Florida cracker is not something you eat, and that it may or may not be offensive to some readers. I need a Rhode Island copy editor to know that you don’t dig for clams; you dig for quahogs, a word of Indian origin — American Indian. I need copy editors who know that Jim Morrison of The Doors went to St. Pete Junior College, that beat writer Jack Kerouac died in St. Petersburg, Fla., but is buried in Lowell, Mass. I want them to know that Lakewood High School is different from Lakewood Ranch High School. I want them to know that 54th Avenue North in St. Petersburg is 108 blocks north of 54th Avenue South.

Clark’s column is based in part on a recent interview he did on a radio show called The Takeaway on WNYC in New York City with hosts John Hockenberry and Adaora Udoji. Listen to the entire broadcast here.

Still, it was a surprise to read this AP story that the Orange County Register is conducting a one-month experiment to outsource some copyediting and page layouts to an editorial outsourcing firm in New Delhi, India. According to the AP account, the month-long trial with Mindworks Global Media will start by the end of June. In it, Mindworks will edit some stories for the Register and lay out one of community papers published by the Register’s parent company, Orange County Register Communications Inc. (Disclaimer: I worked at the OC Register from 1988 to 1995.)

The Register is only the latest newspaper to shift work to India: Mindworks started working with The Miami Herald in January. Late last year the Sacramento Bee said it would outsource some ad production to India, according to the AP report.

I’ve previously written about what newspapers could gain by shifting more editorial work to freelancers. It’s a logical combination of companies wanting to outsource costly functions – like paid editorial staff – to less costly providers – freelancers. It’s also feeds on the trend toward entrepreneurship, especially among Millennial workers who, according to experts, want to be their own bosses so they have more control over their work lives, work/life balance and get rich without having to climb the corporate ladder.

Why aren’t more newspapers going this route? Are they more comfortable outsourcing what could be termed the family jewels – a paper’s editorial product – to a country fall from home rather than to freelancers in their own backyard? That doesn’t make sense. It does point out, however, how little standing writers who are independent contractors have with newspapers and magazines. Maybe it’s up to freelancers to band together and create content and design outsourcing companies that they can pitch to newspapers. It might be out of the normal realm of many freelancers’ businesses, but given how many papers are laying off workers and folding whole sections – or folding entirely – it’d definitely be worth a shot.