That's what newspapers do and have been doing for decades and more. That's a tougher question. And like any aspect of community involvement, the distinction between information and exchange is important. Newspapers are very good at providing information, though critics from the left and the right criticize the publications for placing their own slant on events. Online newspapers are also good at providing information, though the same criticisms apply, perhaps because the online information is the same as the print information .
Newspapers are less good at providing interaction.
In a typical day a newspaper will publish a page or two of carefully selected and sometimes edited letters to the editor. It's hard to gauge public opinion from the letters section, partially because the editors like to balance the letters and partially because organizations orchestrate coordinated letter campaigns. But in democratic societies we have generally been happy to allow newspaper to fulfill their traditional function of reporting the news, while the more important activities of political discourse and display have taken place in more public forums. Long an icon in American rural literature, the public square is the classic public meeting place. Parades, concerts, political rallies, demonstrations - all these have at one time or another graced the white gazebo and bandstand.