We've identified the problem with the US media

A research breakthrough reveals the true cause of the dysfunctional US media and, indirectly, the reelection of George W. Bush:

Britney Spears sucks Blackwater / Showdown! White-trash diva versus mercenary war thugs. Who rapes your spirit more?

... the Blackwater story is indeed fascinating and brutal and bespeaks of a particularly nasty, largely unreported aspect of Bush's bleak war machine, despite how only a handful of (very serious) readers bothered to click on that story to read beyond the headline as it sat atop the SFGate home page for much of the day, craving attention.

But then there's this: The moment the "Britney loses custody of her kids" story went up on our site, the mad swarm of clicks it instantly received made the Blackwater story seem like, well, like a Home&Garden feature on do-it-yourself mulch. Which is to say, the damnable thing was so insanely popular, so flooded with clicks, it nearly crashed our servers...

Once upon a time the media was an elitist enterprise. Now the media is customer-driven.

The customer is us.

Problem.