The Town Square: The Greensboro News-Record is frequently used as the primary example of what local papers will look like in the future. On top of news, the paper has turned itself into a sort of online forum where its readers meet to discuss issues and share stories. In a posting on his Editors Blog, the paper's editor, John Robinson, promises more innovations in 2006 for his already very innovative paper. Highlights include:

• Local news - The News-Record will strengthen its focus on its core competence, its community. "Our goal in 2006 is to give you even more news and information that you can not get elsewhere."
• Redesign - The paper will change the look of its print edition adding more photos, shorter stories and new content.
• Citizens -  "Stories, columns and photos by readers will get greater visibility. We know that our readers know more than we do about a good number of subjects. We want to tap that knowledge and encourage you to write what you know for the benefit of the community."

A few media pundits have also sounded off on Robinson's posting with the standard praise while asking why more newspaper editors don't undertake similar projects. (Jeff Jarvis, Tim Porter)

Participatory Journalism: The BBC declares 2005 "The year of the digital citizen," in a wrap up of how everyday people contributed to reporting on major events via "gadgets with greater capacity to record, store and share content." From the Southeast Asian tsunami, to the London bombings and most recently the UK's Buncefield oil fires, the mainstream media integrated material "produced" by eye-witnesses into their reporting, a trend the BBC article says will evolve further in 2006 because "Clearly there is an appetite to be involved with the production of news- the capturing of moments that have left their indelible watermark on history, big or small."

The Beeb quotes citizen journalism pioneer Dan Gillmor: "We need a thriving media and journalism ecosystem. We need what big institutions do so well, but we also need the bottom-up - or, more accurately, edge-in - knowledge and ideas of what I've called the 'former audience' that has become a vital part of the system."

Podcasting: Andy Bowers at Slate magazine asks "what the medium of podcasting really is. An outlet for new talent? An outlet for the painfully untalented? A real threat to traditional broadcasting? A promotional tool for mega-corporations? The biggest waste of bandwidth yet created?"

It may be the word of the year, but it seems that many media organizations are jumping on the podcasting bandwagon without really knowing what the value of the medium is nor, more importantly, how to monetize it. But with several new media companies working on these problems accompanied with the simplicity of creating a podcast, 2006 could be the year that newspapers find a way to make turning print into audio profitable.

Sources: Greensboro News-Record, BBC, Slate