Ha. Going from 'web intern' in the news room to 'new media' developer at the newspaper's sales & printing building across town, I got to hear the real bottom line, straight from the top folks in Denver: "Articles are just there to fill in the space between the ads." Tip of the iceberg, really.
By any chance was it the Rocky Mountain News? I worked for one of their other papers and those motherfuckers are straight scumbags who should be banned from the news business
Were I an editor, I would do this daily just to fuck with English majors and lawyers who write shitty novels. Yes, I'd fuck with the pretentious and the pandering, both at the same time. Mua ha ha ha ha. Were the publishing company truly evil, they'd let me loose on the fantasy and sci-fi writers.