Speaking of journalists vs bloggers, I'm coming to a somewhat contrarian position regarding traditional news organizations and citizen journalists. The old organizations should run away from hosting citizen's content like the plague. Comments, blogs, photos? Don't bother. Everyone can have their own press, why let them use yours.
Instead, these organizations should become the A1 A-list blogger of the community. Set up a continuous web beat desk. Staff a small number of folks to aggregate and point to the best web material of your community. Use your reporting skills, acumen, and connections to provide raw material for the audience, e.g. put in the time to make public records information more usable, or have the web desk work on providing on-line back story material from reporters.
Don't bother herding cats. Make them chase your tail. Be the first place locals want a link from, and the first place they link to.