The virtual world Second Life and its vibrant economy has drawn close to 1.9 million residents (690,000 of whom have logged on in the past two months), a few live concerts, countless companies like Toyota, Wells Fargo and Dell Computers… and a few media outlets.

Earlier this year, C|Net, Wired and Reuters launched virtual bureaus. The virtual world even has its own newspaper, the Second Life Herald, which is currently hiring freelancers. There is also a business communicators group in the virtual world. According to The Editors Weblog, a weekly tabloid will launch in Second Life in December.

“Like the real world, residents are interested in what is happening in their community,” MarCom:Interactive’s Linda Zimmer said in a NewAssignment.net blog post. “Second Life residents don’t want to read, they want to experience. That is what immersive environments are about.” (Note: Zimmer is involved in the business communicators group mentioned above.)

In the NewAssignment.net blog post, Brian C. Howard wrote, “As citizen journalists have learned to become part of the news industry in the real world, the possibilities of this trend in Second Life, a world entirely built upon user-generated content, seems high.”

It’s not a perfect parallel to any real world community, but it’s already a competitive news environment and there are plenty of people, businesses and events waiting to be covered.