...

Newspapers exist to gather eyeballs for advertisers. The absurdity and self-promotion of this ‘inventor’ served the purpose of attracting attention and ‘buzz’, which seems to have been the point all along from the newspaper’s point of view.

Al, I like you and respect your work, but it's ridiculous to say that all papers (and therefore, their journalists) "exist to gather eyeballs for advertisers" and to create "buzz" ... especially in the context of the Washington Post! I've been a reporter for 15 years and certainly NEVER wrote anything to cater to an advertiser or for the sake of what you call "buzz", nor have most of my colleagues (at least not the ones who lasted in this field.)