There’s an old “inside” joke among those in the newspaper business that states “Isn’t it funny how there’s just enough stories to fit into the newspaper every day?”

Obviously, that’s not quite the case. Between reporter generated stories and those available from the wire services, filling the news hole every day is not a problem. But newspapers follow a process that tries to pick the best stories for its readers. Those stories may not necessarily be prize winning articles but, in the judgment of the newspaper, they are the ones that its readers will be most interested in or the ones that most affect its readers.

Generally, that’s case with selecting topics for an editorial. We have a million different subjects we could discuss but we want to write about what seems most interesting or important to our readers.

Usually, that means taking at look at what’s happening locally, in our readership area. These include school bond and community election issues as well as topics that are creating controversy in one of our communities, such as consolidating police departments or sharing city services. Ideally, the topic may be specific to one community but of interest to all our readers, possibly because the issue being debated may also pop up in another municipality.

Of course, sometimes we’ll do an editorial on legislation pending in Lansing or a controversial battle under way in Washington. Usually the topic, although state or national, will definitely have an affect on our readers.

For example, in Lansing we’ve editorialize on proposed new taxes, the deficit budget, road funding, etc. The list is quite extensive.

In Washington we’ll take a look at legislation or action there that also will affect us locally, such as a new tax or the nation’s financial problems.

Sometimes, we don’t take sides on a issue but rather try to make point.

For example, we have never come out in complete support for Obamacare. We’ve said it is a convoluted, voluminous and costly law that definitely needs changing. But there are some good things in it, as we’ve also mentioned. The main point is we need health care reform and hopefully Obamacare will be at least a start. We often discuss family values and frequently do information editorials, such as those that we run during the holidays.

Sometimes we’ll even do an editorial praising some action or group. Generally, we try to make our Saturday editorials more upbeat and positive.

So, there is a definite process that the Editorial Board goes through in selecting topics for our daily editorials and then deciding what stance we want to take on an issue or what point we’re trying to make.

Our goal is to not necessarily get readers to agree with us but to get them to think. After all, as I’ve said countless times, there’s a reason editorials are run on the Opinion Page — it’s because they are opinions, factually accurate but still opinions.