On television last week, the big news stories were the threat of a baseball strike, the sentencing of a wealthy ne'er-do-well for a murder he committed 27 years ago (they interrupted regular broadcasting for that scoop!) and latest details on the kid snatching du jour. I don't mean to minimize the importance of a missing or murdered child, but such events get great coverage on TV these days not because of their importance but because of their emotional appeal. Would it be going too far to say the news media panders? Well, duh.