"You are choosing the particular kind of news that's interesting to you. We become more important because our mission is to expose you to things you wouldn't have clicked on," said Gibson.

It’s true that the widespread democratization of news can, in fact, lead to the exact opposite: to narrow down the variety of news to the mere interests of individuals.

"The fact that people are going to the Web and gravitating toward news that they want makes it more important for somebody putting together the front page of the Tribune to say, `Well, it's still important for you,'" said Gibson.

Gibson also reminded that the editor’s role was not the didactic all-knowing figure it may be portrayed as in this era of blogs, citizen participation and ‘free conversation’.

"It's a defense of journalism," Gibson said. "It's not that we know better. ... It's not an elitist function. It's an editorial function. It is a function of taking a look at what's important in diet of daily news and saying, `Here's what I feel is important.'"

And it’s always good to get some exposure to what others deem is important news, especially when these do this job every day, especially since we tend to retrench ourselves into knowing only what we want to.

Source: Chicago Tribune