Reason number 1,325,637 why no satirist can improve on real life for its pure absurdity.

When newspapermen such as James Lileks suggest that their papers should go intensely local, let me safely say that this is not what they have in mind:

— The job posting was a head-scratcher: “We seek a newspaper journalist based in India to report on the city government and political scene of Pasadena, California, USA.”

A reporter half a world away covering local street-light contracts and sewer repairs? A reporter who has never gotten closer to Pasadena than the telecast of the Rose Bowl parade?

Outsourcing first claimed manufacturing jobs, then hit services such as technical support, airline reservations and tax preparation. Now comes the next frontier: local journalism.

James Macpherson, editor and publisher of the two-year-old Web site pasadenanow.com, acknowledged it sounds strange to have journalists in India cover news in this wealthy city just outside Los Angeles.

But he said it can be done from afar now that weekly Pasadena City Council meetings can be watched over the Internet. And he said the idea makes business sense because of India’s lower labor costs.

“I think it could be a significant way to increase the quality of journalism on the local level without the expense that is a major problem for local publications,” said the 51-year-old Pasadena native. “Whether you’re at a desk in Pasadena or a desk in Mumbai, you’re still just a phone call or e-mail away from the interview.”

Yes--and having just completed two articles for TCS Daily on the British media, I'm reminded of the immortal words of The Music Man: You gotta know the territory. I was only a phone call or email from the people I interviewed for the article, but on one level, these were intensely difficult pieces to write, because I don't know the ins and outs of British politics especially well. And the reverse is certainly true as well: not many British journalists know the feel of the US as well as an American who's spent a lifetime steeped in the culture instinctively does, which makes unintentionally ironic pieces such as this all too common.

Yesterday, when I had a computer crash, I contacted a tech support rep with Symantic who happened to be in an Indian call center (which he volunteered when he was trying to make small talk). He was absolutely incredible at fixing my computer remotely, but I wouldn't want to ask him to cover a San Jose planning board or sewer comission meeting--anymore than I could cover similar functions in Tamil Nadu by phone and email.

If this is how newspapers think they're going to cut costs, they're doomed--or perhaps, doomed faster than we've originally thought.