A local pol recently told me that there are two kinds of local office holders: The policy types and the constituent types. While the former has an ideology and see themselves as advocates for a cause, the latter pay more attention to the day-to-day needs and interests of the people in their district, often shunning ideology in the process.
The same could probably be said of newspapers. Some like to tell us what we need, while others are happy giving us what we want. One of the front page articles of the Daily Cardinal shows an example of the latter category.
The Cardinal recently ran a news piece announcing that UW-Madison had just dropped from number 8 on the party school list to number 12. Armageddon. Frankly, more UW students are interested in reading about the results of a junk science survey than an update on city TIF policy or the "end" of the Iraq War, for that matter. I am not being sarcastic. By far the most controversial piece I ever wrote for the Badger Herald was a column in which I suggested that there should be a "sitting" student section.
And by george, guess what the Cardinal website lists at its most popular article? Right above the story about the Stanley Cup coming to Madison and "Five do's and don'ts for incoming freshman," lies the story that strikes at the heart of UW's most cherished identity: partying.
