Basic Trope: A news organization has insanely bad judgment and favors unimportant stories over important ones.
- Straight: The Troperville Herald runs the birth of a baby panda as front-page news, while news on the dawn of World War III is relegated to the bottom of the page.
- Exaggerated: Amidst the assassination of the president, the discovery of a new planet, and several wars being declared at once, the front page of the Troperville Herald features... the outcome of last night's pageant.
- Downplayed: Someone tried to murder the president — and on its front page, the Herald reports instead that the mayor died of a heart attack.
- Justified:
- They don't think it's a big deal that those world events are happening.
- They do still have an obligation to cover local news, however unimportant.
- They're afraid that it would cause mass panic if they highlight the importance of these world events too much.
- The newspaper is owned by an authoritarian government who wants to censor a particularly embarrassing incident involving its leader from public view.
- The Dawn of WWIII title of the event was given by historians in the war's aftermath, no one could predict how much it would snowball.
- The front-page plate was already set when the WWIII article reached the offices of the Troperville Herald. note
- Inverted:
- Even though there's no news updates on the major war-related events, the Herald keeps going with the "No New War News Today" headline instead of switching it up.
- Even though readers were anxious about the outcome of Friday night's pageant as well as other local news, no local news came up at all for Saturday. The headlines? "War declared." Second page? "Starvation in Bulungi" and "Terrorists strike in Tropistan, many feared dead." Third page? "Ongoing relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina/Sandy." Last page? "NYSE index drops, investors around the globe panic."
- Subverted: As soon as they hear about the dawn of World War III, the Herald's editors decide to run "War Declared" as their top headline.
- Double Subverted: But the next day they run news on the outcome of last night's pageant.
- Parodied: The Herald runs the war news as its top headline, and its staff get a bunch of angry calls and letters to the editor demanding an apology for not running the news of the local pageant as their top story.
- Zig Zagged: Some days they're pretty reliable; other days, less so.
- Averted: The headline is always some major world event.
- Enforced:
- It's a satire or dystopia; what better way to show the society's Skewed Priorities than having a headline about Angelina Jolie's breasts while the bombs are falling?
- They have a contractual obligation to cover the pageant. Yes, they care about the war, but they also don't want to get sued.
- Lampshaded: "Um, sir, China just attacked Taiwan. Shouldn't we run a story on that?" "No way. We're leading with the outcome of the 'Li'l Miss Troperville' pageant and that's that!"
- Invoked: The people responsible for the major world events pay hush money to the Herald to suppress the story.
- Exploited: To prevent Bob from worrying about upcoming wars, his friends show him the front page of the newspaper - "See? The most important thing happening is clearly just this beauty pageant!"
- Defied: "In light of the recent events, I don't think anyone will care about a panda or a pageant."
- Discussed: "I sure am glad they made this upcoming war the headliner and didn't replace it with, like, baby pandas or something."
- Conversed: Some people watch a movie about World War III starting, and then talk and laugh about a Freeze-Frame Bonus of a badly judged headline. "Wow, they should have thought that through!"
- Implied: Bob reads the paper while drinking his morning coffee. He shakes his head upon reading the headline: "Seriously? With a war going on?"
- Deconstructed: The Troperville Herald goes out of business because its readers have caught on to its apathy about important issues.
- Reconstructed: However, the Troperville Herald is revived thanks to new management and inspired High-Octane celebrity coverage.
- Played For Laughs: The Troperville Herald offices are full of people desperately trying to find stories that aren't WWIII being declared.
"Top Story: Man Enters Info On Trope Page! For updates, consult the main page."
