Many years ago I used to work for a large network north of the border and witnessed the broadcasting business, especially newscasting, first hand.

Decisions about what is newsworthy are first and foremost taken with an eye to ratings. One news director I worked with would air pretty much anything involving animals, especially dogs, because he strongly beleived such stories would grab viewers. While this sounds like a rather silly criteria, he was just doing his job...trying to put things on the air that would increase viewership and hence ad revenues.

News in general is an odd business... several of the reporters I worked with prided themselves on their ability to "create news," meaning that on a slow newsday, they'd simply put together a story which, in the end, said "nothing has changed," but which did so in a dramatic manner. I personally never saw it happen in a malicious or misleading way, though that does happen, to be sure. News people exhibit just as much bad judgement, bull-headedness and poor taste as any other group.