Editing community columnists

The Northwestern is to be commended for its use of community columnists to expand the conversation in Oshkosh. It was a good idea when the Oshkosh Community News Network started promoting citizen journalism back in 2003, and it's good to see the local paper abandon its previous opposition to the concept.

One of the things that newspapers can do, at least in theory, is provide superior editing for these amateur journalists, as opposed to what a community blog might be able to do.

Or maybe not.