Why Do Follow-Up Stories Dominate My Front Page?

I am a graduated journalism major. I don't know if that's what I want to do with my life, but sitting in journalism classes I've been indoctrinated with this sort of journalism ideology. So from time to time I think about how we get the news. This is going to be one of those blog posts.

While there are certain things I know I should be doing I still feel a bit off after the weekend. In short I have a case of the Mondays and am surfing the web when I notice something.

The majority of the news stories on the front page of the news websites I traffic are follow-up stories. Libya, Irene, the Republican race. It irks me. I am writing this article in part to figure out why it irks me. It shouldn't. We've just had a national disaster. If I were an editor I would send most of my writers, photographers and videographers to the East Coast to figure out what the hell is going on. Who is going to be president is unquestionably important as is what's going down in Libya. So why as a news consumer does it bother me?

I think part of the problem is that I live in the Midwest. The effect Irene has on me is limited. All I fell I need is one or two news stories and I feel I know more or less what I need to know about it. It's selfish I know, but I feel as though the resources devoted those follow up stories could be used to gather new news if that makes sense. News that more so impacts my life.

Then again the coin can easily be flipped. On Friday all there was a bunch of speculation. Information was limited. It's a goddamned natural disaster. I can't possibly argue that it should not be on the front page. I can't possibly argue that the loss of life, property damage, and drain on the government's coffers is not important. I'm just tired of going to a website and getting more or less the same information I had yesterday.

I think the one that's really starting to get to me however is the Republican race. The others at least have certain immediacy, but for the next few months and I suspect at least for the rest of the year the race will be too much in a state of flux and too far away for anything of true significance to happen. So why does it dominate my front page?