The demise of foreign correspondence has been rightfully on many media outlet’s agendas, including mine. My interest is there for an obvious reason: I was a foreign correspondent. This downturn started in Europe only at the end of the 1990s, but the American media had already finished a process of consolidation of their foreign correspondents. Except for some major print publications (The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Washington Post), most media relied on the Associated Press, Reuters or other syndicated services to get an idea of what was happening in the rest of the world.
The number of foreign correspondents in, for example, China has exploded rather than declined. Nevertheless, most current foreign correspondents are daring economic refugees from other parts of the world where job prospects are declining. Having a well-paid partner with an expat package is how many foreign correspondents survive. Often they must find more sustainable ways to make a living.
Countries and regions that appeal less to the imagination of media (like Africa) only see foreign correspondents when they have a war that attracts Western media.
Thus, this week’s emergence of GlobalPost was an interesting moment. Any initiative to encourage foreign correspondence deserves support. I keep my fingers crossed for the organization, but I also see some significant problems.
First problem: Compensation. Media reports have suggested that GlobalPost correspondents get about USD $1,000 per month. That might be enough to pay your rent in Shanghai, but certainly not much more. At that rate, correspondents based in Hong Kong and Tokyo still could only survive by having a wealthy partner or with another day job. Correspondents do get stake in GlobalPost, but that won’t pay for your beers at foreign correspondents clubs today. In short, the company does not really seem to be investing in setting up its own corps of correspondents. This might be a smart business strategy, but it is not helping people on the ground.
GlobalPost’s business model looks also scary. It’s tough for stand-alone news sites to survive solely on Web ads. Syndication is also part of GlobalPost’s model, but that depends on the willingness of media to pay up — more of a gamble now that the economic crisis is hitting hard. Their third revenue source, subscriber fees, is the most troublesome part. I suspect having a subscriber wall only drives away potential traffic (and, in the end, advertisers).
Meanwhile, here in China, I’m getting my international news for free via a syndicated service called Google News. Setting up a viable alternative to that, in these times, might be a tall order.
(For more insight into Global Post, listen to this BeatBlogging podcast interview with chief editor Charles Sennott.)