If popularity rules, then the nature of the community will be what counts if we believe in serious journalism. Attract people who believe what they read in supermarket tabloids and on Fox News, and they'll make decisions in a certain manner. Attract other kinds of folks, and they'll make other kinds of decisions.
Dan Gillmor makes a good point, but it's sometimes disheartening to see what attracts people. On a wire service/investment service, we can see exactly what attracts people and what gets read the most. Our 200,000 or so clients are an odd lot -- bankers, primarily, with an average net worth of $1 million. They're interested primarily in how much their peers make, so stories on the salaries of bankers or the fees earned in a particular quarter for mergers and acquisitions advice are always big hitters. But if you really want the hits, put David Beckham or Tiger Woods in your headline...
