All-online paper in Raleigh

The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., has some competition -- and one that doesn't have all those expensive printing presses.

The Raleigh Chronicle has announced its "beta" version. Publisher, editor and founder Randall Gregg is no neophyte in media, having founded a monthly tech magazine, a free downtown newspaper and a video channel. He says the Chronicle will have just a handful of staff and will use mostly freelancers and, quoting the N&O story, "the Chronicle welcomes submissions from readers and will share articles and resources with the Downtowner and TechJournal."

Now, it's not clear if he's talking full-fledged citizen journalism here, but the idea is tantalizing.

Pay attention to this one. Yes, as noted in the N&O article, it is not the first. The Chicago (Chi-Town) Daily News is doing it in that city. But Raleigh is smaller and more homogeneous, and with a newspaper that is not a slouch when it comes to operating on the Web (the old Nando site was one of the first in the nation). Still, the N&O is far behind nearby Greensboro, for instance, in incorporating participatory journalism. So there might be an interesting situation here.

And the Chronicle does take a slap at McClatchy, the owner of the N&O. The Chron's slogan: "Raleigh's only locally owned daily newspaper."