And in other news - top stories in 04, editors v. readers

Posted on Sun, Dec. 26, 2004

And in other news …

Staff and Wire Reports

We asked readers to select the Top 10 news stories of 2004 from a ballot provided by The Associated Press. That news-gathering organization solicits votes from editors and news directors as it compiles its Top 10 list each December.

Readers and editors agreed that the election was the year's top story, but from there the lists diverged a bit, as you can see from these charts.

Voters in the AP survey were also invited to write in top stories. One listed "the growing gap between the haves and have-nots" and another the "growing influence of evangelical conservatives on our political campaigns."

Star-Telegram readers received the same invitation. Their write-ins included news that a memo by then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales had not discouraged the torture of prisoners; the U.S. refusal to support the Kyoto Protocol or sign on to the International Criminal Court; job losses; and the "outing" of CIA agent Valerie Plame in a column by Robert Novak.


more
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/opinion/10491753.htm?1c



Editors said . . .

1. U.S. election

2. War in Iraq

3. Florida hurricanes

4. Abu Ghraib prison scandal

5. 9-11 report

6. Gay marriage

7. Arafat dies

8. Reagan dies

9. Russian school seizure

10. Madrid bombings


Readers said . . .

1. U.S. election

2. 9-11 report

3. Abu Ghraib prison scandal

4. Florida hurricanes

5. Russian school seizure

6. War in Iraq

7. Price of oil rises sharply

8. Arafat dies

9. Reagan dies

10. China in transition

100,000+ asians swept away in a tsunami is without a doubt the top story of the year. Another case of a deadline ruining a story.