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I agree with Waters that this was a useful article that explored in detail what happens to a tippler after a blue light comes on in the rear-view mirror. But I don't think the article needed to start off with a writer's opinion that getting drunk is normal, even on New Year's Eve. As Johnson and other parents said, that's a bad message to their youngsters -- and us oldsters.

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"Bhutto's slaying shatters U.S. effort to heal Pakistan." That was the headline Dec. 28, the day after Benazir Bhutto was killed, and several readers were surprised by the slant. Why not: "Pakistan opposition leader assassinated."

"Shame on you for leading with a focus on the U.S.' dashed hopes instead of on the more important -- and primary -- story of Bhutto's death," wrote Hope Squires of Raleigh.

Steve Merelman, The N&O's front-page editor, points out that the killing occurred early the previous day and ran on broadcast and online news for almost 24 hours before being published in The N&O. "We felt that most readers would know the basic facts of the assassination by the next morning, so we tried to assemble a set of stories that would help the readers interpret, assess and ... feel the atmosphere of the event," he said.

The N&O had a comprehensive package on the assassination -- a local writer's account of an encounter with Bhutto at a drug store in Cameron Village, a biography, an on-the-scene report on Pakistanis' reactions, a briefing on Pakistan politics, reaction from Pakistanis in the Triangle, a Duke professor's assessment, an op-ed article about Bhutto's 2002 visit to N.C. State University and, yes, that front-page story on the impact on U.S. diplomacy.

That headline? Overstated perhaps. But this was exactly the kind of context reporting and in-depth perspective that will keep newspapers relevant in the instant-news Internet age.

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