Watch out foreign correspondents

The journalists who should be in danger of losing their jobs from the revolution in international communications are that breed of foreign correspondents that the ABC, the television networks and the major newspapers have spread around the globe at considerable expense. Most of their work, if not all of it, could these days be done from the head office in Australia. I mean, what sense does it make to have a bloke in Los Angeles talking earnestly about some catastrophe or other on the other side of the United States? All he is doing is looking at the same news feed that is coming just as quickly to Sydney or Melbourne.
In days of old before satellites were in common use and newspapers received stories via a teleprinter (that should send some of you youngsters rushing to the dictionary) the foreign bureau had some point to it. Cutting and pasting the London and New York morning dailies to give them an Australian slant was the quickest and easiest way of covering the world. Today a journalist in the newspaper head office has immediate access to exactly the same information as his colleague thousands of miles away.

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