And of all the people who read the news about Iraq that week, how many people can name a single thing that happened in Iraq the day the iPhone launched? Probably no one. Whereas I bet most people can still recall the key details of the iPhone launch.
On the day the iPhone launched, at least one IED killed at least one person in Iraq. It's the same thing every day in Iraq, the iPhone gets to launch no more than twice a day.
The point, however, is that social news sites (so far) are not replacements for editorial front pages. They exist solely because the mainstream news sites aren't very broad (10 stories are 50%, sounds like the long-tail book again). If I want LolCats, I go to digg. If I want news about Iraq, I'll listen to NPR. If I want something about hackers, I'll come here.
Comparing them to eachother is basically a waste of time, except to indicate that there might be a market opportunity (is there a community not being served by ANY of the outlets listed?)
