WATCHDOG SPECIAL: News, Smut, Smut, Smut , Smut

That is how the five columns of the front page headlines in today's Intelligencer Journal were allocated.

One of the most important stories of the decade – the decision of Lancaster General Hospital to build a major satellite facility in Ephrata – got a single column. The sad but all-too-frequent story of a male teacher having an affair with a fifteen year old female student got the other four across the top of the front page.

Relegated to far less prominent locations by the editors was the fact that Ted Kennedy has a cancerous brain tumor and that Barack Obama has won an absolute majority of elected delegates.

And lest the prurient interests of the editors and readers go unsated, the lead column on page three is devoted to "Naked pilot, attendant charged after romp in woods."

Ernie Schreiber of the New Era: Look out! On the race to the bottom, Ray Shaw may be gaining on you.