Newspapers and “Citizen Journalists”

Marc Cooper, when talking about The Huffington’s “Off the Bus” project, said he didn’t see why more traditional media outlets couldn’t turn to “regular folk” for reporting and then have trained editors churn out a story from the information gathered.  This suggestion raised quite a commotion.  Unfortunately, the conversation was cut short.  So let’s continue it here on-line.  What do folks think?  Will citizen journalism continue to grow?  And what does that mean for the future of reporters?  And what of Marc’s suggestion?  Why aren’t newspapers doing more projects like “Off the Bus”?