Column: Community journalism begins with you on AreaVoices

I spent Monday and Tuesday with other Forum Communications Co. editors discussing, among other things, the online world we live in and where the news industry is headed.

The conversation was pretty upbeat, believe it or not. That's because we're committed to having the Internet play a vital role as we beef up community journalism.

The Internet isn’t our enemy.

One of Republican Eagle's big initiatives is to increase local blogs on our website. First, we are migrating our existing blogs to a more versatile platform. Once this is complete and existing blogs return to the OurVoices and AreaVoices sections on our home page at www.republican-eagle.com, we intend to add five blogs each month through 2010 and continue the growth in 2011.

Who will write these blogs? I'm hoping you, the reader, will. If you prefer not to write one, you still can join the discussion by commenting on the blogs.

Write about neighborhood watch efforts, a hobby or other passion. Share stories heard in the barber chair. Write about issues of the day - wind development, sustainability, energy, government — and little steps people can take to address these. Chronicle the activities and goals of your civic club.

I envision bloggers will "report" on the happenings that enrich the community.

Journalists have always known that the news extends beyond those stories that make the headlines. The web in its nearly limitless capacity allows us to include things we couldn't in a set number of pages. By incorporating community bloggers to help us maximize our website’s potential, we can dedicate our resources to researching, writing and printing those stories best told on paper.

You can help us champion this era of community journalism by joining AreaVoices. The first step is to register at areavoices.com or via the link on our home page.

Let your voice be heard.

Tags: anne jacobson, opinion, columns