What location is to real estate – a prime indicator of the value of the property in question – placement is to newspaper stories. It illustrates the value or relative importance editors place on news items.

On Saturday, August 16 , The New York Times (1116 words), Boston Globe (721 words), Chicago Tribune (707 words), Baltimore Sun (838 words), Washington Times (561 words), and Richmond Times-Dispatch (556 words), among others, all put the news of Israel’s decision to withdraw from more West Bank cities on page one. (Many of these stories included photographs.)

The Washington Post ran the story on page A-18. The Post’s article, a Reuters wire service dispatch, consisted of 360 words. There was no photo.

Many factors influence story placement, including other news covered by each daily paper. However, it seems likely that had Israeli military forces reoccupied two or four Palestinian Arab cities rather than agreed to withdraw from them, the news would have appeared not only on page one inall those publications above that gave prominent placement to the withdrawal story but also on page one of The Washington Post.