If I worked for The Dallas Morning News, I would not be concerned with what is really the most important news story of the day. I would be concerned with what will sell the most papers. A multitude of arguments can be made about which of these 4 stories will sell the most papers.

McCain would be quickly dismissed as the lead. People just don’t care about politics anymore. Besides, he’s going to be just fine and our readers threaten us with pitchforks whenever we publish something negative about a Republican. (which means we’re threatened every day.. it just gets so old after a while)

Skeletal remains – the whole JFK story just doesn’t fit the young demo we’re looking for. They don’t really know who he was. It’s an interesting story, but there are so many stories out there about the assassination that it’s just too complex to report as the lead.

Hinojosa – thousands of DISD teachers and parents hate this guy and anything bad about him might tend to make them gleefully pick up the paper. Still, we’re trying to reach beyond just Dallas. It’s a tough call, but it has to play second.

Romo – He’s a member of the Dallas Cowboys – nuff said! It’s sports and that goes right to that youth audience we’re trying to reach. He’s young and popular and it deals with football. Besides, fans all over North Texas care about the Cowboys. We can probably do an extra press run and sell it out if we put this at the top.