• by Erik Sass , December 31, 2007

It's a grim New Year for newspapers. As yet another rough quarter draws to a close, we witness the closing of a venerable Midwestern journal, The Cincinnati Post, as well as an alarming new trend: the outsourcing of advertising responsibilities to India.

The Cincinnati Post, owned by E.W. Scripps, is set to close on Dec. 31 after 126 years of publication. The final day sounds something like a wake in an email sent to employees by the newspaper's editor, Mike Philipps: "Tempting as it may be... please do not bring any alcoholic beverages into the newsroom." On the last day of publication, Philipps said "tourists" and media would be barred from the newsroom, sparing employees macabre gawking. Philipps added that he will try to secure access to the Post story archive for six months, so employees can prepare writing samples and resumes.

Separately, The Miami Herald announced Thursday that it is outsourcing some advertising production tasks to India as a cost-cutting measure, beginning in January. The New Delhi firm Mindworks will handle copy editing and design for special advertising sections, including a weekly community section covering Broward County. So far, the move hasn't resulted in any layoffs in the paper's Florida offices. However, Herald executives say the outsourcing is a test--implying that some jobs could go to India if it proves successful.

The Miami Herald is actually the second newspaper owned by the McClatchy Co. to outsource to India. At the beginning of December, The Sacramento Bee also said it would experiment with outsourcing some ad production tasks.