• The Guardian, Wednesday, August 20, 2008 9 AM

As newspapers and other publications pare to the bone and then the marrow, media blogger Jeff Jarvis asks if editors are now a luxury the news media really need.

His premise is that the more original journalism that is done, the higher the value of the publication and its Web service, and the better the opportunity to stand out in links and search. "When reporters blog their beats, involving the community in suggesting stories, reporting and correcting mistakes...then readers become the editors." And when online news readers go directly to stories via search and links, we won't really need editors to pick the news anymore.

Instead, he concludes, a new breed of editor/curators will be charged with "finding the best from an infinite supply of witnesses, commentators, photographers and experts, and assembling networks from among staff and the public. They will become community organizers and educators."

Read the whole story at The Guardian »