I get tired of seeing the National Western Stock Show all over the local news, but it's hard to argue that this event, which involves hundreds of thousands of people and other animals, isn't newsworthy.

But the day after the stock show ended, why did The Denver Post run a late-edition front-page story hyping the fact that 643,000 people attended the event, down a bit from last year but topping the "600,000 mark for the 12th consecutive year."

"643,100 came out to see the show," was the Post's banner headline. The Rocky Mountain News ran a similar story with the same attendance figure in the headline but buried the article.

That's a lot of attention for an attendance figure that was essentially the same this year as last.

It's a pitfall of journalism that the attendance of a short, animal-laden event like the stock show can get more attention than the attendance of year-around cultural presentations in town. So, to be fair, if the Post is going to put the attendance-as-usual figure for the stock show on the front page, it should also give prominent treatment to the attendance of other cultural offerings, if a comparable number or people attend them.

Last year, for example, the combined attendance (theater, symphony, ballet, opera) of the Denver Performing Arts Complex exceeded 930,000, about 50 percent greater than the stock show total, according to arts spokespeople.

Overall, in 2007, 16 million people visited organizations, like the Botanic Gardens and the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, that receive tax funds from the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District.

International perspective. When international environmental issues make local news, reporters should find space to explain how U.S. efforts to address the problem compare with those of other nations.

In November, 60 Minutes aired a piece showing that lead-filled cathode-ray tubes from Englewood-based Executive Recycling were illegally shipped to Hong Kong, where they were discovered and sent back.

The shipment was apparently bound for rural China, where precious metals and toxic components, including lead and gold, are removed from electronic waste under unsafe conditions, to put it mildly.

Last week, federal agents raided the Englewood company's headquarters, apparently gathering evidence.

A Jan. 24 Rocky story about the raid quoted an activist saying, accurately, that the United States bans the overseas disposal of cathode-ray tubes.

The Rocky provided some information on how different countries address the export of electronic waste to poor countries, while the Post offered none.

The Rocky reported Nov. 12 that the United States has yet to ratify part of an international treaty, known as the Basel Ban, that prohibits "many developing countries from accepting [electronic waste] and rich countries from sending it there."

Neither paper reported that the European Union requires manufacturers of electronic items, ranging from computers to hair dryers, to take their products back at the end of the products' useful lives, and this directive applies to all of the EU member states.

The United States has no such statute, but 17 states (not including Colorado) and New York City have adopted laws based on the same principle, according to Kate Sinding, senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The European approach has not completely halted the smuggling of toxic electronic waste to developing countries. But, as a result of the laws, manufacturers tend to design products containing fewer toxic components in the first place, so that the products are less toxic and more easily recycled, according to Sinding.

Radio traffic. Traffic reports on KOA (850 AM) radio are useful. But why don't the traffic reporters just shut up if there's nothing to report?

For example, last Wednesday during the Colorado Morning News on KOA, the traffic reporter explained that traffic problems were "few and far between." Then she went on for more than a minute detailing that there was "some slowing" here and there.

If there's no problem, just say so and move back to the news.

Jason Salzman, president of Effect Communications, is the author of Making the News: A Guide for Activists and Nonprofits. Reach him at salzmanj@RockyMountainNews.com.