Top picks!

Compilation news sites are extremely useful. The compiled news site I use most often is GoogleNews.
But I've recently noticed the ability to rank stories by number of hits is growing in popularity. One such site is Digg. Another is Del.icio.us. Both I found through a celebrity gossip Web site - a far cry from what I consider news.
Users of the sites can post or recommend a Web page. The stories selected most often by users head to the top of the page.
This works similar to the Google or Yahoo! "most viewed articles" link.
This loosely-democratic form of gate-keeping is really a great concept, allowing readers to hand-pick their own front page, but at the same time, the stories that often are linked here are in no way serious news stories.
People tend to click more often on soft stories, 'weird' news and even blog posts.
That kind of 'news' is fun to read but I hope users of top viewed articles also check out the more important stuff so they will be aware and active citizens who actually know what's going on in the world, things like who's running for president and the state of the war in Iraq or community news that directly affects the reader. And maybe serious, community-affecting news will make it to the top of the list.
My wish is that everyone strives to be more aware, and to gain understanding and knowledge throughout life. I know this is probably futile, as many people don't know who their senators are, but a girl can hope!
What are your top news stories day to day? Do they focus on serious news or fluffy stories? Do we prefer features to hard news?
Do SPJ blog readers subscribe to sites like Digg or use compilation news sites?
Is this the direction media's headed?