There was a heartfelt piece in The New York Times this week from Timothy Egan about the readiness of publishers to commission books from people who can’t string three words together, the latest beneficiary being Joe the Plumber.
Egan has paid his dues as both journalist and novelist (see The Winemaker’s Daughter), and is rightly annoyed at the way in which the craftsmanship of people who write for a living is undervalued. But maybe he will have to get used to it. Joe the Citizen Journalist, with both words and pictures, is elbowing aside professionals all over the world.
The Guardian’s media section had a report on Monday about how the German paper Bild is equipping readers with an easy-to-use camcorder so they can file any stories they happen upon. The readers are paid — but not as much as Bild would pay professional photographers.
When professionals are still employed, they are increasingly often cheaper professionals on the other side of the world. My own company, Telegraph Media Group, confirmed this week that it is going to have most of its weekend supplements sub-edited in Australia.
Other organisations are going further. The Guardian’s media section reports on how a news website in California is paying journalists in India the equivalent of £5 for a thousand words to cover the affairs of local government –- in Pasadena:

The reporters write features and news from information they’re sent, or get off the web. They even report local council meetings via video streams (although they missed two city council members walking out in protest because the camera didn’t face that way).