How many papers did it sell?

Every morning or afternoon in Media General newspapers across the country staff members will gather together to plan the day's stories and to examine the statistics of the stories that ran the day before. How many "hits" did a story get? Why? "Let's do more of those - that story had legs....(did well)."

And the stories that get the most hits - well, those sell papers. What stories typically sell a lot of papers? Death. Tragedy. Fires. Wrecks....but wrecks MUST have serious injury or death. Common fender benders or minor injuries or even spectacular crashes must have blood or the newspaper won't cover them. Only gore sells. So...

I imagine it must be hard - seeing the statistics about how many papers your own son's death sold. The fact it involved a failed parachute, a college kid....that's a bonus...but before anyone gets their shorts in a wad - remember - the paper does this EVERY DAY WITH EVERY ONE OF YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS who are killed, shot, stabbed, injured. They joke about it - like they joked about the breasts of the local businesswoman and they wrestle with whether to put the fire story "above the fold" or the shooting fatality...Which will sell more papers? Death sells. How ironic....that Media General Chief Operating Officer O. Reid Ashe is making money for his stockholders from the tragic accident of his own son.

The Danville Register and Bee ran the story I'm sure for a couple of reasons - One, it was a fatality. They like those. Death sells. Two, UNUSUAL death or death of a young person really sells well. Three - ANYTHING with the REMOTEST connection to Danville - ie. once lived here, was born here, went to school here, drove through here on his way to somewhere else, ate here....any connection to Danville makes the story fair game. The fact that the kid'S father is COO of the company that owns the Register and Bee is close enough to local news that they can assume there will be enough interest locally for people to buy the paper. That is the goal folks - SELL PAPERS. What a shame it's on the backs, deaths and tragedies of people....rather than the good people do.

But I guess Mr. Reid can rest easy now...knowing the system is working....that his papers are selling death...even that of his son. It's a sick business when you peddle the death of your own for a buck.