From the NYT:

When does a television show become an event worth covering on the evening news? Lately, the answer seems to be every week — at least when the show has high ratings expectations and runs on the same network as the newscast.

On WPIX, the New York affiliate of the CW network, the last two Wednesday nights have been full of heavily promoted segments about “Gossip Girl,” the network’s drama about privileged Upper East Side teenagers. Since “CW11 News at Ten” is broadcast minutes after “Gossip Girl” ends, viewers who wanted to continue savoring the soap opera need to wait only a few minutes.

On Sept. 19 on the “CW11 News at Ten,” the co-anchor Kaity Tong promised a “behind the scenes look at the boys of ‘Gossip Girl.’” The segment was promoted three times before co-anchor Jim Watkins jokingly introduced Allison Kaden as “our ‘Gossip Girl’ correspondent.”

That concept is currently in operation at the foundation-owned St. Petersburg Times in Florida, and it's sparking discussion in an industry where the overwhelming pressure to preserve high profit margins is leading to a gutting of the journalistic mission.

Yes, newspaper circulation is falling, but major U.S. newspapers aren't trying to reach everyone anymore. If the audience isn't of value to advertisers, then too bad, so sad for them.