The Journal Register in Connecticut has opened its community-focused newsroom, a place where that has issued an “invitation to the audience we serve to participate in the newsgathering process and to work with our professional journalists to address the issues facing our communities,” said John Paton, chief executive officer of Journal Register Company.
With past issues of the newspaper and other historical stuff on display, it sounds a lot more like an open house than an open invitation to affect the news.
And I’m not sure it’s all that different from reporters calling up  Joe and Jane Citizen when  they work on stories — but  it is definitely an interesting spin being put out there in the spirit of engaging the reader.
Things that sound cool: opening up meeting space for the pubic and encouraging elected officials to hold meetings there too to engage the public; letting the public sit in on news meetings and providing the public the opportunity to talk with reporters about published and missed stories.