Washington Times to open page a day to readers

The newspaper said one page a day in the print edition would be devoted to "news stories reported and written by average citizens in local communities."

"We know there are many issues and communities we have not been able to fully cover within the confines of a newsroom budget, and we are excited to empower citizens within those communities to provide us news that will interest our readers," executive editor John Solomon was quoted as saying.

"While we are expanding our reach through this project, we will not be diminishing our editorial quality," he added. "Citizen stories must meet the same rigorous standards for accuracy, precision, fairness, balance and ethics as those written by our newsroom staff."

The page will feature stories about academia on Monday, the Maryland and Virginia suburbs on Tuesday, Washington on Wednesday, local military bases on Thursday, faith communities on Friday and the charitable and public service community on Sunday.

The project is to begin on April 20. It comes as US newspapers, facing a steep decline in print advertising revenue, search for new and innovative ways to boost circulation and readership.

The conservative-leaning Washington Times was launched in 1982 by Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church.

(c) 2009 AFP