Gaza Makes Back Page...Again

I have determined that I should not be allowed to read the newspaper, ever; it makes me far too irritable. For my journalism class I am required to subscribe to and read the Canton Repository. It makes me smile that college students are being forced in a small way to keep up with current events, but the newspaper is not making it easy by putting huge, world altering stories on the back page. There are World Summits, elections in Afghanistan, hundreds dying a day in Iraq, Israelis leaving the Gaza strip, Iran developing/maintaining nuclear reactors, children dying of curable diseases in phenomenal numbers all across Africa, North Korea agreeing to 'dismantle' their nuclear program, and so much more. But what makes the front page of the Repository, oh right--Bulldog football (you know that all important, earth shattering topic). What does this say about American culture? I would like to think this says nothing about Americans, that the newspapers are getting it all wrong, that Americans really do want to hear about global events, but the newspapers are just being stubborn and pushing their own agenda which happens to be McKinley football. Unfortunately, I fear I'm wrong. It was suggested in Merchants of Cool, that the media just reflects what it sees its audience doing. This principle could probably also be translated into the news sector--the news just reflects what people are talking about. But to what extent do the news reporters influence what people are talking about? Probably more than we think. I would be curious to see if the Israeli pull out of the Gaza Strip would be talked about more if we were daily updated about the happenings in the region on the front page.