With each of these, involving the community is the key to bolstering the appeal and reach of news sites, they said.

Panelist Robert McCartney, the Washington Post's assistant managing editor for continuous news, explained how washingtonpost.com provides information that is not available elsewhere.

The Washington Post's continuous news desk works hand-in-hand with the newspaper staff, McCartney said. The desk's preference and aim is to publish stories written by beat reporters. However, if the beat reporter cannot or does not file a story for the Web site, a writer from the continuous news team will write the story, sharing a byline with the beat reporter if any collaboration occurs.

Although cooperation with the continuous news desk is not mandatory for the Post's reporters, it has become a factor in their receiving pay raises and bonuses, McCartney said

Although McCartney acknowledged that the Washington Post has more resources for the online division than most newspaper sites, he stressed that with the support of the print staff, much more is possible.

"Even one writer and one editor can make a big difference," McCartney said.

Panelist Lucy Mohl, senior producer at SeattleTimes.com, pointed out that smaller operations such as hers have many of the same issues as large sites like McCartney's-even though they don't have the same level of resources.

One of the best opportunities for print and online staffs to work together is in developing large projects, Mohl said. The Web site also can publish articles and photographs that the paper may not have had room for.

When asked how she gets the cooperation of the print staff, Mohl said: "I appeal to their egos, and, surprisingly, that works pretty well." She noted that reporters prefer to have their articles posted on the Web rather than not to have them published at all.

Panelist Andrew Haeg, interactive producer at Minnesota Public Radio, said people who were once simply considered readers can be turned into a contingent of thousands of additional reporters -- as long as appropriate skepticism is applied.

Haeg's interest in online journalism started two years ago, when he realized his organization already had a good relationship with a trusting audience that was engaged and associated in what he was doing. "I was stunned by how eager people were to engage with us," he said.

In a practice known as public insight journalism, the online staff at Minnesota Public Radio proposes ideas via e-mail to engaged site viewers to solicit information about stories being covered. They use the e-mail addresses of many of the newsroom's original contacts to gather information.

"Creating citizen journalists is scary to most of us," said panel moderator Mark Hinojosa, assistant managing editor for multimedia at the Chicago Tribune. "However, it seems that that the democratization and interactivity of news is what is in store for the future."

Mohl agreed: "You go with the flow," she said, "and the flow is news coming through many channels."

Breaking news and the "reverse news cycle" -- when news is broken on the Web site, and then published in the newspaper the following day - will become increasingly essential components of successful online news operations, Mohl and McCartney agreed.

The three panelists stressed that shovelware doesn't serve the needs of the large online audience that news sites now attract.

"There is less than a twenty percent overlap between the newspaper and online division at the [Chicago] Tribune" in audience, Hinojosa said, and that audience is often viewing the site while at work.

By providing original content, "we are providing journalism that a time-stressed reader wants," fresh news that reaches that new audience, Hinojosa said.