I select and edit the items every day for our Nation/World section, and while THAT item probably wouldn't make my cut, I do run items that drift out of the conventional selection process by adhering to one time-tested philosophy that's proven to work: "Run stories that are likely to upset old people." Our letters-to-the-editor section (and my work e-mail acount) are filled with humorously irritable this-nation-is-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket responses from 84-year-old readers who apparently have a hard time digesting their morning bran muffins after reading stories about promiscuous-teen studies, kids-know-nothing-about geography surveys, and the like.<p>In today's paper, I ran a big story about college-football riots around the country late Saturday night, with a photo of drunk college students tipping over a car, and was not disappointed by my regular curmudgeonly correspondents! I had 26 e-mails this morning, and the opinion page editor had about 20.<p>Viagra stories, Medicare-cut stories, prescription-drug-cost stories and the like also work well under this philosophy. How does it work at your paper?
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