It's worth taking note that even as news professionals ponder their "broken business" with dismay, a few innovative news outlets are expanding, perhaps in a sign of things to come.

Call them -- citizens journalism -- outlets.

The first, launched last week, is Topix.com, formerly the news aggregator Topix.net. With a page for each zip code in the country and a policy allowing anybody to post or edit reports, commentary and photos about local happenings, Topix.com gives local citizens the power to determine what's news. As noted on WebWare, its editors are users; editors can write stories of their own, and non-editors can comment on stories and submit them.

Topix.com stories are also open for comments by readers, and a quick glance at the forum page for my community, Natick, MA, shows that some stories have generated hundreds of comments -- in one case, 668. That's strong indication that the site is popular and well-trafficked. And in a sign that Topix's management anticipates this popularity -- and the business -- will grow, in January it paid $1 million for the Topix.com domain name, according to a Wall Street Journal article.

The second outlet, farther out on the cutting-edge, is BostonNOW, which will debut on April 17. It will rank as greater Boston's second, free local paper (after Metro Boston) and plans to drive the medium forward by running copy generated by local bloggers. This copy will appear as 150-200-word blurbs in the print edition, and full-length online. A story in Boston's Weekly Dig explains:

In the name of relevancy, BostonNOW is handing huge swaths of its editorial pages to its readers. Instead of bemoaning competition from bloggers, they're proposing a true pro-am partnership, promising to publish the work of any blogger who's willing and literate enough to work with them.

Good news for bloggers? Maybe -- for those willing to work for free. But more importantly, initiatives like BostonNOW and Topix.com may be an important cue for the news business as it searches for ways to stay afloat. The success of media sites by and for the public and the exploding popularity of commenting on news stories online suggest that increasingly, what news consumers want is to connect with and be involved in news stories. It also suggests that the relevancy of news has as much to do with presentation and accessibility for, literally, consumption, as it does with content.

Apparently, several important players in the news business agree. Topix happens to be owned by none other than McClatchy Co., Gannett Co. and Tribune Co. And the publisher of BostonNOW, Russell Pergament (formerly affiliated with Tribune), is backed by Dagsbrun, Iceland's second-largest telecommunications company and its largest media company. He reportedly also hopes to have 8 to 10 NOW papers up and running across the US within 2 years.

All of which sounds promising for both consumers and the media. That is, as long as content doesn't get lost altogether to format and professional standards continue to apply.

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