I Hate Non-News News Stories

One of the things I hate about newspapers is that they persist in publishing stories that are not news. Imagine my surprise and deep-seated shock when I read in the Montgomery Advertiser that Milton McGregor will plead "Not Guilty" to bribery and corruption charges. I was stunned!
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20101015/NEWS02/10150318/McGregor-to-plead-not-guilty-today

The lead attorney for the state's largest casino owner said his client will plead innocent to federal corruption charges to­day and expressed concerns about how the 11 defendants were arrested as well as the tim­ing of the indictments, which came a month before the general election.

First off, I doubt McGregor will plead "innocent," as the article claims. It's either guilty or not guilty, guys. Don't the reporters watch Law & Order?

But the deeper problem with this story is that it isn't news. Of COURSE McGregor will plead not guilty and fight the charges in court. That's not news. Now, if he'd decided to plead guilty or accept a plea bargain, THAT would be newsworthy! But this? Pshaw!

Newspapers are not always interested in bringing us news. In this case, they wrote this story because it was something that is happening in the bingo corruption case, and the newspaper would rather write a fake news story about that than a real news story about something else.

This is more than disappointing. It explains why newspapers across the country are losing readers left and right.