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Compare the Paris Hilton story as it was treated online and by the LA Times:
In Salon, three different writers ranted very vehemently about the early release, citing all the poor and working class people who weren't celebrities who didn't get released early from the DUI probation violation terms.
The LA Times used a different approach. They sent actual reporters to get the actual incarceration statistics from the county jail administration.
They found out that the actual time served for female DUI probation violation in LA County has shrunk over the years so that now the women don't even serve a whole day before they're sent to home detention. Even the poor and working class ones get sent home early.
The problem is -- it takes time to dig up facts and calculate statistics. By the time the LA Times staffers had the jail stats all added up -- the story was all but finished on the Internet.
Who cares about Paris Hilton any more? That was yesterday!
