“The News We All Make”: Join the discussion

Last week’s commentary by managing editor Jon Elliston, The Media We All Make, mapped out a new direction for Mountain Xpress’ evolution. While the publication has always been rooted in community, Xpress is now expanding its efforts to collaborate with citizen journalists.

“Maybe not everyone wants to be a journalist, but we’re rapidly approaching an era when anyone can be a journalist of one sort or another,” Elliston noted. “And as the impacts of these fundamental changes spread, we want to be able to say that Xpress helped pave the way for a new kind of journalism that’s richer, more diffuse, more responsive and more empowering than the way we used to do it.”

While Xpress shifts more of its emphasis to collaborations with citizen journalists, the commentary also noted that the publication will still rely on its professional staff to do much of the heavy lifting when it comes to in-depth and investigative reporting.

The changes afoot — and indeed, some of them are already underway — have generated some vigorous debate in the comments thread following the commentary. Some of the comments have veered into tangential territory, but many have addressed the issues head on, with some commenters welcoming the new approach, others exhibiting skepticism, and still others voicing alarm about where this all might be headed.

Given that we’re talking about some of the fundamental elements of the way Xpress serves (and collaborates with) its readers, we’re hoping for still more dialogue on the matters raised in the commentary. Please join in the conversation here, and thanks for keeping your comments on-topic, civil and passionate.