By Sarah Bloom

Are candidates and parties, donkeys and elephants oh so 2004? Online News Association (ONA) panelists Friday showed an eager audience innovative ways to adapt online political coverage to meet the public’s changing expectations for sound political insights not from appointed and self-appointed experts but from friends and neighbors.

Watch Chris Matthews discuss election coverage: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Jennifer Sizemore's PowerPoint presentation

Following a general socio-cultural trend toward distrust of government, panelists argued that many citizens now turn to each other instead of appointed or self-appointed experts when making political decisions.

“Not only are we changing our idea of community,” said Ron Fournier of Hotsoup.com, a new discussion-style Web site to launch in mid-October. “We’re changing the way we connect.”

Video: Fournier elaborates on community needs and information in the 2006 election.

Hotsoup.com represents the most extreme example of the press’s attempt to meet a new public demand. The site will feature a number of political discussion forums and commentary by trusted public figures, whether PTA parents or articulate professional athletes.

More traditional online models such as MSNBC.com, CNN.com, and BBC.com have also begun to redevelop their coverage to meet the changing public needs. All of these media have introduced interactive coverage sites for the election and launched blogs driven by popular TV personalities – putting familiar old media faces with the news online.

ONA members will lead the journalism community in creative, interactive, and citizen-friendly coverage in the 2006 election, with an at-your-fingertips climax for the 2008 presidential election.