One of the greatest things about blogging is that enables you to be your own editor. Obviously there are billions and billions of stories from around the world that a newspaper editor could choose to put on the front page of his/her paper or that a blogger can put on his/her index page.

Keeping up to date on what bloggers are talking about is easy enough. Thanks to the Newseum the same is true of newspapers from around the world. The Newseum has a service called Today’s Front Pages, which is just that: 295 front pages from 39 countries updated every single day.

When I walked into work today and saw the Union Tribune’s fronth page I couldn’t help but laugh. Imagine all the potential stories: hostages in fragile Iraq, an upcoming presidential election, the World Court’s ruling that Israel’s security fence in the West Bank violates international law, how the CIA skewed Iraq intelligence, the potential genocide in Sudan, the resignation of Egypts president and cabinet, presidential polls in Iraq, the raping of three women by 40 men in Madhya Pradesh, India?

No, no, no. Let’s talk about dogs, specifically Boston Terriers and “their smushed-in faces, wide-set eyes, perky ears and tendency toward snorting.” Let’s put that on the front page of our only major local newspaper.

No wonder I’m getting my local news more and more often from independent sources.