Yes, contrary to popular belief, the news media is not provided to supply the public with what they insist is a right and a need to know. the news media exists to make money, pay its bills, and stay in business. To accomplish this primary goal, the news media must enhance its circulation, and to accomplish this they must provide the readers with what they want.

Now, you and I both know that the average person (actually from slightly above average to the very bottom of the mental barrel) is a 2D thinker, with an attention span that will encompass, perhaps, line one, paragraph, through line end, paragraph end, of an article. Perhaps. Well, at least as far as the coupon page.

Marketing.

The subscribers are not the ones who keep a paper afloat. Circulation and advertising handles that, and if you make the paper too hard, or complicated, to read, you lose a piece of your circulation, and no respectable newspaper likes that. Facts are all well and good, but suggesting facts is nicer, easier to read -- and allows a little more room for that Mickey D ad.

Dan