Newspapers are thinking about the internet! Now, in 2010. America's greatest broadsheets are having Very Sober Discussions of the implications of "web traffic" on Serious Journalism. Will you internet hordes destroy Real Journalism, by reading things you like?

The New York Times is thinking about it! What sorts of terrible consequences might result if newspapers knew with stories people actually read? Would they become just like Gawker, a nonstop parade of Paris Hilton nip slips, all day and night?

The New York Times does not use Web metrics to determine how articles are presented, but it does use them to make strategic decisions about its online report, said Bill Keller, the executive editor. "We don't let metrics dictate our assignments and play," he said, "because we believe readers come to us for our judgment, not the judgment of the crowd. We're not ‘American Idol.' "

Yes, American Idol is a moneymaking enterprise. Just joshing! The Washington Post is also worried about this issue. Listen to Real Journalist Howie Kurtz recount how the sex-obsessed online berserkers have disturbed his workaday routine, of journalism:

I can no longer file a story in our computer system without filling out a box, a small gray square that may well determine the future of serious journalism.
The box is supposed to contain words and phrases that will help me reel you in.

Oh you mean "tags," Howie? Tags will destroy journalism, yes. As will the knowledge of what your readers care about. Better to totally disregard that knowledge—or, better yet, to toss it into a deep, dark pit where no one will ever look. The International section? Yes, that should do fine.

Knowledge: fear it, in journalism!