As a former print journalist, I have often lamented the demise of an entire industry that was once the “Fourth Pillar” of America’s experiment with democracy. I keep a constant vigil by checking out Newspaper Death Watch, which chronicles the buried bones of the nation’s metro dailies. Last month, Google CEO Eric Schmidt spoke to members of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and informed them once again that their business model was defunct and broken. However, there was a silver lining in his message: “There’s every reason to believe that eventually we’ll solve this,” he said, indicating that new online advertising and subscription models are evolving quickly.

One new approach to online journalism will be launched May 4 with Civil Beat, the brainchild of Pierre Omidyar, who started eBay in 1995 and now lives in Honolulu. He is banking on the fact that fellow Hawaiians will pay $19.95 a month to read and comment on local and community news. Civil Beat is positioning itself as a virtual civic square where reporters will write about issues relevant to Hawaii, converse with readers, and host discussion forums.

According to Editor John Temple: “As we do our reporting work, we’ll share our experiences, using Twitter and a blog-like approach on each beat. We’ll bring you along, we’ll point out important developments, and ask for your help and your thoughts. When we’ve come to our own conclusion about an issue, our editorial board will let you know what we think. We think it’s important to take a stand and propose concrete steps, even if you won’t always agree with us. We hope that by sharing our point of view , it’ll help you sharpen your own thinking. Of course, we’ll be inviting you to do the same with us. We believe civil debate and discussion are essential parts of good journalism, and a positive way to create a better community. And that even goes for our reporter-hosts, who’ll be free to let you know when they disagree with the board, just the way you might.”

Civil Beat has its work cut out for it. Ultimately, the reinvention of journalism may be decided not by online content, but by enabling devices, such as the Apple iPad and the Amazon Kindle. Just has the iPod reinvented how music was to be consumed, creating a device-driven business model to counter the Napster phenomenon, the iPad may also help create a revenue platform for what’s left of professional journalists.

Until then, I will keep my watch and hope that the Fourth Pillar survives and thrives in a new form that engages community, not just solicits readership.