Reply #5: Sadly, celebrity news is popular

[muriel_volestrangler]

As an example, take the BBC website front page. http://news.bbc.co.uk/ It has:
Top story: 'Osborne outlines £6bn cuts detail' (biggest headline), explanatory sentence, and link)
Next 2 stories: 'MMR doctor struck off register' & 'Dumbbell attack teacher sentenced' (smaller headline, explanatory sentence each, and links)
Next 8 stories (just the title and link for each):
Top army bomb squad officer quits
British Airways crew begin strike
Duke 'unaware' of ex-wife meeting
S Korea freezes trade with North
Jamaica PM vows to end unrest
BNP leader 'to step down by 2013'
Actress Murphy's husband found dead in LA
Facebook chief's privacy pledge

And then what has been viewed the most, in descending order:
Osborne outlines £6bn cuts detail
At-a-glance: £6.2bn spending cuts
Murphy's husband found dead in LA
Dumbbell attack teacher sentenced
Lost finale seen around the world
MMR doctor struck off register
Child Trust Funds to be scrapped
Runner dies at Edinburgh marathon
University places in spending cut
BNP leader 'to step down by 2013'

The Murphy's husband story has made its way up to number 3, only beaten by the 2 links related to the biggest story. CNN is just pandering to public taste, I'm afraid.