What was the agenda of the news today?

 While reading The NY Time's today I came across two stories that I found interesting. The first article, found on the front page, was about a legal hallucinogenic drug called salvia. The second article, found several pages back was about President Bush accepting the recommendation to reduce the number of troops in Iraq.   Both stories deal with the U.S. and both could potentially have influence on peoples lives... but is the drug story really more newsworthy than 8,000 troops getting pulled from Iraq??  In my opinion, no.  I wonder why the Times deemed the drug story as more worthy of a front page spot on the paper? It is newsworthy.. but what if that story had been published in a different section, or even published at a later date?  Would it have made a significant difference?  I would think not. I feel that the story about the troops is a more current issue and deserved to be a little more in the spotlight.