Joe Murphy offers newspapers five ways to be a little less opaque online.
Basic things like disclosing conflicts of interest are easy enough, archiving corrections online can be more difficult, but my favorite element on this list, of course is #2, in which the Editor blogs:
“Start an editor’s blog, or ombudsman blog, or some blog written by somebody with the authority to write about the decisions the paper makes.”
This should be the point of entry for most papers, as it’s easy, takes no time away from anyone except the guy or gal in the glass office, and most of the time, they’re happy to get all the feedback they can on how the paper is doing.
A word of warning: Depending on the community’s ideas about the paper, you could be putting your boss in a dunk tank. If they mind getting wet now and then, they’re not going to be thrilled about it. But I’m pretty sure that’s part of the job description, isn’t it?