In Chile, instant Web feedback creates the next day's paper

"Give me a break," moans Ms. Lagos, the economist, reflecting the attitude of many intellectuals here. With only 30 percent of the country having access to the Internet, and even assuming all those 30 percent are clicking on LUN, is the paper truly a reflection of society? she asks. "The paper is taking its cues only from a very specific sector."

But observers see this small sector as representative of a growing movement. "The appeal of LUN is indicative of several cultural trends taking place in Chile," says Roberto Mendez, director of Adimark, a research firm. Chile, under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet from 1973-90, was one of the most conservative and repressed countries in the Western world, he points out. Films were censored, pornography banned, and news reports very official, and frankly, dull.

"The last 15 years have seen a tremendous cultural revolution, in which social attitudes are changing rapidly," he says. "And all this is coming at the same time as the Internet explosion and the increasing prosperity in Chile." Most media remain wedded to the old news selection system while LUN, says Mr. Mendez, is tapping into the new mood - and making a commercial success out of it.

It's an alarming success, says Orville Schell, dean of the graduate school of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. He says it bodes badly for the future of serious journalism. "The quest for eyeballs has soundly trumped good, sound news judgement," he says. "Market forces have established yet another beach head in the publishing world, albeit, through an online fifth column."

Back In the LUN newsroom, Orietta Santa Maria is grinning. Her story - on the arrival of the wealthiest man in the world, the Sultan of Brunei (for the trade meeting) - is one of the top click winners. Her follow up, she says, might be something about the daily activities of his "exotic" entourage. "We are all still getting used to the new system here," she says. "It's all down to a science, with the clicks guiding you more than an editor does."

None of the LUN correspondents have news beats anymore, rather, they compete one against the other. Edwards says he will start financial incentives, with salaries reflecting the monthly clicks each reporter accrues. Editors, he adds, will work more as coaches than bosses. "I want my correspondents to be writing for the people," he stresses. "Not for me, or their editors, or the bureaucrats who put out press releases."

"Some years ago I covered good stories, like the Pinochet case," says Ms. Santa Maria. "I spent my time cultivating sources, and it was serious." She misses it once in a while. "But this is a phenomenon," she says with a shrug, "and I am not going to fight against it."

In a Santiago hotel, clerk Raul Sepulveda is reading the story about the Sultan of Brunei. "Imagine, the wealthiest man in the world in town. I wonder how they choose his hotel?" No, he is not interested in the free-trade agreement just signed between China and Chile - or in Iraq . "Of course these things are important," he says. "But do I have to read about them?"

• Danna Harman is Latin America bureau chief for the Monitor and USA Today.

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