Citizen journalism is a term that for years has drawn a visceral and negative reaction from professional journalists. But it may be on its way to some respectability in journalistic circles after Gannett’s announcement on Friday to fundamentally alter the way news is gathered at its many properties.

Say goodbye to the daily tunnel vision. Gannett’s newspapers will now have reporters and editors focused on delivering local news across multiple platforms. And they’ll be finding ways to use the locals to get out the news. (See CEO Craig Dubow’s memo about the changes.)

Gannett is the company that brought a journalistic revolution in 1982 with USA Today — a newspaper that was dominated by short stories, big pictures, info-graphics and lots and lots of color. At the time, professionals at many of the major institutions dismissed Gannett’s efforts. Just part of the dumbing down of America, they said. Today we realize there was a lot of innovation there.

Newspapers, including Gannett’s, have traditionally operated in silos: national reporters and editors covered national news, photographers took care of the images, etc. Gannett takes all these traditions and throws them out the window. The focus will be on delivering information, not job titles and section loyalties.

And there’s more. “Gannett, the publisher of USA Today as well as 90 other American daily newspapers, will begin crowdsourcing many of its newsgathering functions,” wrote Jeff Howe of Wired on Friday. (See Gannett to Crowdsource News, Nov. 3). According to Howe, Friday was the day Gannett’s 90 newspapers would re-christen their newsrooms, and call them “information centers.” Gannett has a four-part strategy:

Prioritize local news over national news; publish more user-generated content; become 24-7 news operations, in which the newspapers do less and the websites do much more; and finally, use crowdsourcing methods to put readers to work as watchdogs, whistle-blowers and researchers in large, investigative features.

It certainly sounds like a major re-organization. And it come after the groundbreaking decision at USA Today – Gannett’s flagship newspaper – to merge its news and Web operations. In fact, it is the second stage of that announcement.

At his blog, Howe explains how the company’s newspapers will restructure into seven primary focus areas – Digital, Public Service, Community Conversation, Local, Custom Content, Data and Multimedia.

Huh? What happened to National, Foreign, Metro?

“We’ve broken into task forces to figure out how to implement this, but some of this stuff, I’ll be honest, gives us great pause,” said one midlevel editor at a Gannett newspaper, speaking to Howe on condition of anonymity.

As an editor for washingtonpost.com the last 10 years, I saw plenty of committees started when new initiatives were proposed. After much brainstorming and meetings, the initiatives that at one point generated much excitement would die. The meetings were not a prelude to action, but a substitute for it. Gannett needs to abandon this desire to set up “task forces” and just go ahead and “do.”

Actually, Gannett is already doing. The company seems to have made successful use of crowdsourcing, as Howe calls it. (See his Wired article, The Rise of Crowdsourcing.) Earlier this year, one of Gannett’s properties – The News Press in Ft. Myers, Fla., — asked local residents for help in investigating abuses in what the sewer district in Cape Coral was charging people. They got an “overwhelming” response. It led to a reduction in sewer assessments: a victory not only for reporters and editors but the community at large.

What’s exciting about the experiment in Ft. Myers is that all of the “official” parts of the puzzle – professional journalists and government officials in Cape Coral — took the journalism seriously. The journalists were able to tap into much of the expertise out in the community while city officials got a pretty good sense of the outrage within the community.

Instead of just including quotes from engineers in a traditional stories, some engineers took it upon themselves to actually go out and study blueprints and then not only offered their comments to reporters, but to the community at large through online discussion boards. One expert got another expert going, with accountants and others getting involved in the actual reporting.

And, what really gets me jazzed is that this innovation is focused on – take a deep breath – the journalism. The crowdsourcing that The News Press in Ft. Myers did made for better journalism. Which makes for trust. If your local newspaper asked for your help and the help of your neighbors and took that help to reveal illegal overcharging of you and your neighbors, there’s a gain in reputation there that’s critical to the success of the business.

Over at Buzzmachine, Jeff Jarvis writes about how important success stories will be to the continued future of “crowdsourcing.” I’ve told Jay Rosen the same thing about our efforts here at NewAssignment.Net – a successful story will lead to more.

Simply put, the news from Gannett is good news for us at NewAssignment.Net. Not that the mainstream media is giving credence to the concept, but that there is a citizenry willing to get involved when the offer is genuine and the journalism real.

In reading some of the coverage, I can see the paranoias that might develop. As a professional journalist for 20 years, I know that many of my friends at Gannett and elsewhere are automatically going to think “cost savings and job cuts” with this move by the company. And, I guess that’s a natural reaction.

But, there is something larger and more exciting at work here. At USA Today’s facility in Tyson’s Corner, Va., editors have quietly and successfully merged their news and Web operations. Yes, the arrangement is not perfect, but those I have spoken with say that members of the two operations are able to sit side-by-side and get the job done. Now, the advent of the “information center” will redefine everyone’s job at Gannett – reporters and editors will now be thinking in terms that truly define this age as one of multimedia.

In the summer of 1996, many of the major national news operations suddenly got religion and realized they had to get their newspapers onto the Web – quickly. It was a mad rush. Who was “first” remains somewhat up for debate. That summer marked a fundamental course alteration for members of the mainstream media. Is the Gannett conversion an indication that we are on the verge of another major shift?

We don’t know yet. But Friday was certainly an interesting day for pro-am possibilities in mainstream newsrooms. Tuesday will be another interesting day for citizen journalism. NewAssignment.Net is partnering with Design Observer and AIGA, the professional association for design, on their Polling Place Photo Project

The goal of the project is stated simply on its main page: “By documenting their local voting experience on November 7, voters can contribute to an archive of photographs that captures the richness and complexity of voting in America.”

I tried to take the temperature of such an effort with some of my professional friends. One long-time colleague and university professor questioned what conclusions will be drawn from such an effort. The answer lies in large part with the participants. That’s the part of the equation that often bends the mind of the professionals.

Steve Fox is a contributing editor for NewAssignment.Net