Will 2009 be remembered as the year that new media companies, under less duress than traditional print organizations, stopped Scrooging around and started giving back — or at least encouraged their readers to?

Two months ago, The Huffington Post launched its first charity-oriented vertical site, HuffPost Impact, which celebrated Christmas with its socially-conscious 12 days of Giving. And Tina Brown‘s Daily Beast heralded its own vertical, Giving Beast, just one week later.

HuffPost and Daily Beast are not alone: Guestofaguest.com also has a charity platform and then there’s Mediaite‘s Rachel Sklar (a former Fishbowler, too) with her Charitini blog encouraging you to give up birthday drinks in lieu of donations to your favorite charitable cause.

In times of tightening purse strings, it’s amazing to see an effort put forward like these. After all, could you imagine a newspaper starting a philanthropic section right next to sports? Or maybe instead of sports, as even those news sections that were once seen as essential are now disappearing right and left. The idea of getting readers to dip into their wallets for charity seems like an exclusive new media opportunity; after all, if they aren’t paying for content, they should be generous enough to donate a dollar or two for a worthy cause. Although this trend of socially-conscious journalism began this year in earnest, we hope it’s a trend that continues throughout 2010 and beyond.

Read More: 10 Resolutions For A Socially Conscious Social Media User — Guest Of A Guest

Previously: Daily Beast Launches Socially Conscious Site Giving Beast, HuffPost’s Impact Kicks Off 12 Days Of Giving To Needy Families