As an editor, I often struggle with issues surrounding what the public NEEDS to know, versus what they WANT to know.

If we print what people WANT to know, they'll buy papers. But at some point what people want to know drops perilously close to the level of gossip, in which I prefer not to indulge. Obviously gossip is big business, as evidenced by the number of celebrity gossip magazines, tabloids and Web sites. I am not at all convinced that the world needs to know what Mel Gibson said to his girlfriend, or who Miley Cyrus is dating. I'm not even sure why the world WANTS to know.