The scope is very much undefined, but pretty much it should be as close to a full-working online newspaper as possible, including articles in categories, forums, comments to articles, polls, search engine, fielded tabular data nice but not necessary. However, the administration/editor part of the system wouldn't have to be too complex regarding authorisation, etc., as three or four people would be using it. Classifieds would be indispensible, both top banners and other in-page formats.
As you tell me, I have understood from my searches that there are no good off-the-shelf integrated solutions out there. In any way it would be interesting to make this an public project if others are working on similar causes. The various modules one can find in pretty great numbers, but integration will be time-consuming.
Regards,
Oystein