The news industry is a fickle creature.

Do you remember when a rumor started in middle school, only to be forgotten two days later when a new, juicier rumor emerged?

That's how the media treat the world today. A news story is big until a new, juicier story comes along. And then everything else is moved aside.

Case in point: I spent last spring studying abroad in Manchester, England, where the royal family provided more gossip material than you can imagine. Prince Harry, with his Nazi armband at a costume party (or "fancy dress" party, for those of you who are up on your British lingo), was quickly upstaged by his father, Prince Charles, announcing his plans to marry Camilla Parker-Bowles.

You want examples from the good ol' U.S.A. without the celebrity gossip factor? No problem. I spent the summer interning at the Chronicle in Houston, where NASA houses its mission control for the international space station and the shuttle missions. Discovery's return to flight this summer was major, front-page news every day leading up to the first launch attempt, then up to the actual launch, and during the flight. After a safe landing, though, the story practically dropped off the map.

Back at Penn State, I pull up CNN's Web site, and for much of last week its home page has been dedicated to Hurricane Katrina. It's a huge story. I know that as well as anyone. But what happened to everything else that was going on in the world before the city of New Orleans was devastated by this natural disaster? Iraq all but fell off the radar, as did the Israeli pullout of the Gaza Strip. Even Judge John Roberts' confirmation hearing was more or less forgotten, until Chief Justice William Rehnquist's death Saturday brought focus back to the Supreme Court.

I can't even begin to predict what the story du jour will be by the time this column is published; for all I know, something new will upstage both Katrina and Rehnquist.

The question is whether the media's treatment of these stories is the cause or the result. Is the news industry simply catering to what its consumers want to hear about, or have consumers been trained to expect a new, sensational story every few days or weeks in this generation of Sesame Street and MTV? It's a proverbial chicken-or-the-egg issue.

We, as the media, need to do a better job of following through on stories -- giving you not just the sensational, dramatic parts of the story but also the resolutions.

You need to look at only the biggest story in recent history to see this deficiency in action. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York City, the coverage was constant for several weeks. Pictures of the buildings, the video of the planes hitting the World Trade Center shown over and over again, President Bush's declarations of justice.

Then what? The shock value slowly died, as the did follow-up stories. And in this case, ignorance is certainly not bliss. Do you know the status of the search for Osama bin Laden? I sure don't, and I'm a journalism student.

Congress recently made the bulk of the Patriot Act, passed in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, permanent. But do we know exactly how the government is employing these measures? Of course not.

How can we cast educated votes if we don't hear the whole story? How will we ever be able to learn from our country's mistakes if we don't know the end results?

We need to show you photographs of New Orleans now, with its streets flooded and its homes destroyed, but we also need to show you the city six months from now as it rebuilds and recovers.

We need to tell you when Israeli settlers withdraw from Gaza, its results -- if that withdrawal limits violence in the area as it was designed to do.

We need to inform you when Roberts' hearings start and publicize his statements and opinions both during the hearings, and if and when he gets on the bench.

And you, as our readers, need to show us that you want all this information.

We need to change the culture of the news industry and stop its move toward the world of entertainment and drama.

I'm not trying to suggest that the media's extensive coverage of Katrina or other similar events is entertainment. But it is something that could just as easily have been scripted for a movie.

We need to ensure the rest of the story, both the horrific images and the uplifting accounts of perseverance, are just as important in our eyes.