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National Heterosexual Pride Celebration
By AprillBrandon in Pop Goes the Culture
October 15, 2008

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Chances are, you probably clicked on this blog because you were curious about the title. And chances are even better that if that title had said "National Homosexual Pride Celebration," even more people would have clicked on it.

As newspaper people, we constantly ask ourselves: What is it our readers want? What is it they want to read about?

And I think I finally have the answer, thanks to the reaction two stories I recently wrote received online. The answer is: Most readers want to be angry. Most readers want to read about things that make them angry.

Okay, maybe that's generalizing too much. But check out the difference between these two stories.

Story A: Local GLBT organization holding a National Coming Out Day Barbecue in the park.

Comments received: 130.

Total number of views: 2,546

Story B: Local couple been married 49 years, sentimental wedding rings are stolen, Zales replaces rings free of charge in time for their 50th wedding anniversary.

Comments received: 2

Total number of views: 184

Even more interesting is that of the 130 comments Story A received, many were asking me why I am "shoving gay issues" down reader's throats and why I never write a story about "a normal heterosexual couple that is in love." And then when I did write about "a normal heterosexual couple in love," no one even noticed. And no one said I was shoving heterosexual love down anyone's throat.

In my opinion, both stories are equally valid and newsworthy. We cover the entire community, straight, gay, old, young, bad, good, etc. But I find it interesting that Story A got so many people fired up, keeping the story on the front page of our Web site for days due to the number of comments and views. Meanwhile, feel good Story B was quietly pushed aside from the front page because no one commented or even read it.

So, have we become a culture of want-to-be-angry news consumers? Or are the reactions to these two stories just an isolated incident?

What do you think?