I was reading a post by Ian Betteridge (via Joanna Geary) and thought to myself, "Well, of course: journalists need to become part of the conversation, part of the community they serve again, or history will just make them irrelevant."

Then I was reminded of the term "The Fortress Newsroom", which Spokesman-Review editor Steve Smith used when he gave a talk in Oslo last November. He explained the term thus:  

"In the US, newsrooms used to be walled enclaves. When I use the term 'Fortress Newsroom' in the US, I get a lot of recognising nods. The walls were there to shield us from the consequences of our stories. In the US, the concept of objectivity has come to mean separation. If you have ties with the community: are involved in community clubs etc - you are biased. So journalists only associate with journalists. Only the newspaper advertisement staff is allowed to communicate with the readers."

Betteridge asks if "the job of a 'journalist' is not just to write the story, but to tend and curate comments and discussions wherever they exist on the web?" I'd say, well of course. I'm a journalist myself, I know how crazy the deadline rush gets, but as soon as you publish something online you are part of a conversation.

Play to that, and you may end up becoming an invaluable conversation hub for experts on your beat and/or the readers you want to reach - which will both improve your journalism and satisfy the advertisment department by reaching more of your "target audience" (put simply: generating more clicks and creating more loyal readers).

For my own part, monitoring what people say online about the articles of my main client (by way of simple tools such as Technorati), is invaluable both for ideas, inspiration , and sometimes just for clearing up misunderstandings or correcting mistakes (we all make them), before it all snowballs into something unmanageable (the PRs among you may call that "reputation management", others simply common sense).

Now, I've got to be on my own to work, but here's an interesting line from an interview with Monica Guzman that does touch on some related issues: 

"'I'm convinced that newspapers need to rise up and take responsibility not just for the quality of the news, but for the quality of the conversation."