What Would The Webbs Say?

I've mentioned on more than one occasion before that I'm wary of the term "citizen journalist" as an apellation for bloggers, the sterling efforts of Huffington Post, Firedoglake & Raw Story notwithstanding.
However, in his mediaguardian.co.uk Mediawatch blog on Friday, Roy Greenslade drew attention to the New Statesman's appeal to its readers for ideas on what issues should be investigated by the magazine (http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/greenslade/2008/08/new_statesman_asks_readers_wha.html ).
I was astonished & clicked on the NS link in Greenslade's story (http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2008/08/british-investigation-party ) to find that yes, indeed, the "Staggers" was making such a bizarre & seemingly unnecessary request of its readers.
It's a sad state of affairs when a magazine which has, if nothing else, been highly regarded for its campaigning journalism over the decades resorts to such a cheap gimmick. It also seems to suggest that, unlike the Guardian, the NS is seriously rattled about the blogosphere.