Are Newspapers Mirrors?

If the editor does his job without letting personal prejudice color his judgment, a successful newspaper will necessarily reflect the hopes, fears, beliefs, desires and preferences of its readers.
Unfortunately, in the real world, finances, advertisers, publishers and politicians apply pressures that make it nearly impossible to put that ideal paper on the street.
In spite of the premise to this column, I am seriously puzzled, and more than a bit troubled, by what I see has happened to most of our regional papers - even to some national papers (e.g., USA Today). These so-called newspapers devote far more space to sports than to meaningful news, and most of that sports coverage is about professional, mercenary athletes, rather than about you and me on a fishing trip, hiking a mountain trail, on a camera safari, making a "hole in one" or sailing around the world. It appears that we are, as a nation, far more interested in mercenary athletes than in anything else - from the health and welfare of one's own family, to national security.
Before looking at a current and specific example of what I decry, let's take a moment to set the stage, by briefly reviewing subjects of significant importance, which should be of great and continuing interest to all of us.
Our national economy is tanking, and no one seems to have a plan to stop the crash. Just today, two more financial giants fell (Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch), and an expert financial analyst predicted that "as many as 1,000 regional banks may fail this year."
Only a few days ago, two para-governmental agencies (FNMA and FHLMC) failed due to careless, or criminal, mismanagement, with the result that you and I have to bail them out by using billions of our tax dollars.
U.S. military forces have made justifiable, but widely criticized, punitive sorties into Pakistan, in attempts to stem attacks mounted by Taliban forces based in Pakistan. Iran is close to having a nuclear weapon, which Israel, understandably, threatens to destroy before it can be used against them.
Hurricanes and accidents involving bridges and trains shock us and further tax our disaster funds. Illegal immigrants swarm across our undefended southern border, and threaten our national economy and safety, but we throw Border Patrol officers in jail if they try to stop them.
Global warming is given a lot of lip service, but is largely unsupported by experts and fact, so we are confused and disoriented about drilling for additional oil. Our environment is increasingly polluted, so that fish contain dangerous levels of mercury, and eating peppers from Mexico will kill you.
Our government is increasingly corrupt, amoral and incompetent, and our legal system, with its "gimmee" lawyers, is completely out of control - having become a liability rather than an asset.
OK, there's the summary of the weighty news topics on the table at this time, yet take a look at how one major city newspaper apportions what it calls "news coverage." My current copy of that paper [readers interested may contact me for its name] shows the following: Of the pages devoted to news about other than sports, 63 percent of available space was used for reportage; the balance for necessary advertising. Twenty total pages were involved. In the same edition, 16 pages were devoted to sports, of which less than 5 percent was advertising. Thus, far more space was devoted to mindless professional sports than to the serious matters in which we should all be most interested.
How do you explain this troubling fact? I am serious in asking the question; instead of simply flaming the paper for printing this column, send me your rational thoughts and comments. I need help in understanding why this seemingly inexplicable situation could exist.
Meanwhile, there's a glimmer of hope for all of us: According to my referenced paper, Sept. 16 is "National Guacamole Day." Who can say that we're not a nation of dedicated, informed, intelligent and constructive citizens? Who indeed!