Here’s an age-old dilemma in journalism, but one that has become more prominent since the inception of online analytics.

The top story pictured here, “City of Hays Fire Chief Gary Brown …” is a story about how improvements to the local 911 system have given the city a better fire protection rating from an insurance organization that could potentially reduce property insurance costs.

The story below that is about a new food establishment that will open in town.

Ask a journalist, and they will tell you the city story is more important because it shows how public money is spent and its direct effect on the community. Government in action, and in a positive way in this case. While it’s good when a new business opens, the city story, from our point of view, has far greater effect on the community.

And yet look at which one has received more attention. Our online stats are similar, showing 523 hits on the juice bar story, 182 for the city story so far today.

What do we do about this? How do we get more attention on the stories about government and public spending? I wish I had the answers.