Media Goes to the Dogs

In the What Drives Web Traffic Department, over at the Foreign Policy website -- home to blogs by international relations gurus Daniel Drezner, Tom Ricks and others -- the webmaster recently logged more than a month's worth of hits for an editor's photo essay on military dogs, Fishbowl DC reported earlier this week.

The 8.2 million hits were largely driven by word that Editor Rebecca Frankel's "war dogs" blog post included photos of some canines who later participated in the raid that brought down al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

The Web traffic was undoubtedly good news for Foreign Policy, where posts can range from highbrow international relations theory to humorous takes on the day's foreign news. But it's yet another try to keep perspective moment for ailing newsrooms struggling to value content over cute.

Cute, though, has its advantages.