Stuff That's Not News

Dog bites man isn't really news, as the old saw goes, but "Man Bites Dog," will sell newspapers. Modern news organizations seem to have forgotten that. Here's some headlines of late that I choose to mostly ignore because they are in the "dog bites man" category.

Afghans riots and kill people over Koran burning/Mohammed insult.
Greeks riot over government cuts.
Raising taxes results in unexpected revenue shortfall. (BTW this could be on zillionaires or cigarettes.)
Islamists pass sharia laws.
Obama continues or increases some Bush era policy.
Lady Gaga does [fill in the blank with anything outrageous].
High flying Patriot team loses in the Super Bowl. (OK, that last one was just schadenfreude.)

Feel free to provide your own in the comments.

Dog Bites Man or Man Bites Dog

There is an old saw in the newspaper business about constitutes news that says "Dog Bites Man" is not news, but "Man Bites Dog" is a worthy headline. So imagine my surprise when I saw the following "Dog Bites Man" headline in this morning's Wall Street Journal:

Senator Prodded Fed to Aid
Ailing Bank From Home State

The article details the efforts of Senator Robert Menendez (D-Clepto) to aid a Jersey bank owned by big contributors to his campaigns by trying to get the Fed to bail out First BankAmericano (I'm not making that up.)

The Fed did not acquiesce to this request; so this should have been the real "Man Bites Dog" headline.

Fed Denies Senator's Sleazy Request