The Fresno (Calif.) Bee is the latest paper to outsource its advertising production work overseas.

The Bee tapped Express KCS to take over a portion of the paper’s ad production in a move that will cost seven workers their jobs.

 

Express KCS, which has an office in San Jose, Calif., and a production facility in Gurgaon, India, already handles ad production for a number of MediaNews properties, including the San Jose Mercury News (see Newspapers & Technology, January 2007). Bay Area News Group, which oversees the group, said outsourcing, along with other cost-cutting efforts, helped the publisher reduce costs by nearly $16.8 million.

The Bee said Express KCS will begin to handle the production work in September.

Meantime, the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune began outsourcing the work of some 20 ad production staffers to an undisclosed overseas vendor last month.