Readings from news execs

"And isn't aggregating all these witness accounts what reporters actually do?"

Only if you completely trivialize what reporters actually do. The good reporters will give you the story behind the witness accounts, with well-crafted, spell-checked, and edited copy. They will also synthesize the various witness accounts to provide a complete (as possible) picture. Just printing what other people say is called gossip.

I think it's important nowadays to separate the job of reporters with the business of newspapers.

Yes, you can get volunteers to do it -- as long as it's not the only thing they do.