The top story on last evening’s network newscasts was the report from a Pennsylvania grand jury that Roman Catholic priests had molested over 1,000 children.

How did major U.S. newspapers handle the story?

Here are the headlines from this morning’s Kiosko.net:

The New York Times put it at the top of their front page:

CHURCH HID ABUSE OF 1,000 CHILDREN, GRAND JURY FINDS

The Washington Post did the same thing:

300 priests in Pa. accused of abusing children

The story shared the top of the page at the Boston Globe:

Church covered up sex abuse, jury says

And while it was not the top story, it was still on the front page of the business-oriented Wall Street Journal:

Coverup Hid Hundreds of Abusive Priests

How did this morning’s Wheeling Intelligencer handle the story?

The molestation story was on page 3:

Report: Pa. Priests Abused More Than 1,000 Children

The Intelligencer then provided the first 168 words of a 950 word Associated Press story. (17% of the article.)*

What stories were on today’s front page?

There were three stories about judge impeachment by Ogden statehouse reporter, Steven Allen Adams, which occupied about two-thirds of the available news space. Additionally, two local stories made the front page:

City, Grow Ohio Valley Near Agreement on Terms of Intermodal Lease

and

Sheriff, WVDOH At Odds On I-70.

(Note -- today's Charleston Gazette-Mail covered both the impeachment and the AP story on its front page.)

I realize that I am arguing about “what is news?” and while the coverage of impeachment proceedings is important, I can’t help thinking that a story about how the Catholic Church covered up the abuse of over a thousand children deserves something more than 168 words buried on page 3.

*Note -- no link. As of 10:30 this morning, the AP article was not on their webpage.

Afternoon update

The afternoon Wheeling News-Register has the same five stories on its front page but it did not cover the abuse story. Instead, it posted a short editorial, "Bringing Justice to Victims of Abuse," which tells us that "some means of getting justice must be found." Profound. I think they're done with this story.