The editor only had one job … and he/she blew it. There is a not so obvious lesson here. That is the content selected for insertion in the newspaper or the TV news is not dictated by stories vital to the public interest. Selection is based on how much space or time a particular story will occupy.
Take this story it is from the Associated Press (AP) and it was published in the Jamestown Post-Journal. The Post-Journal has a daily circulation of around 20,000. There is no indication that Julia Roberts has ever been near Jamestown, New York or that she has done anything particularly newsworthy.
The reality is the editor needed something to fill the space. The Julia Roberts story fit the bill. Chances are nobody at the Post-Journal read more that a couple of paragraphs. The Post Journal contribution was to slap a headline on it and declare victory. So now you know, Julia Roberts and her orifices are getting better with age, no dryness, no prolapses and no hemorrhoids.
The Post-Journal can’t effect a simple transfer of a canned story to print medium. What does that say about the rest of the content in the paper?