Is it a case of those media outlets forcing headlines on us or is a case of them providing what their customes want?  When Lohan is out searched 1,000,000 to 1 over say...Jeroen van der Veer then why put him as your main headline if your readers could care less.  Let the market dictate what you supply.  In simple terms, give the people what they want.

I don't blame CNN, MSNBC or even FOX (even though I have other issues with FOX) for the headlines.  If people didn't click on all the Britney headlines in mass numbers and instead clicked on links titled "Consumer Spending Low in December" we would get more informative stories.  Not trying to sound pompous but those are the headlines I read as I could care less about the tabloid worthy headlines.  The headlines don't bother me, I know where to find the information I want.

It just speaks to the mindset of the majority of people.  American Idol had 33.6 million viewers, the last republican debate had 4.2.  So it would seem (in a narrow view mind you) that American households care more about the next Idol as opposed to the next leader of the free world.