Reporting or gatekeeping?

I was reading CNN's coverage of a Democratic debate held recently in Philadelphia, and was struck as much by the structure of the article as the content. The "real" issues, such the war in Iraq and taxes, weren't mentioned until the last third.

The structure makes sense, I suppose, if you consider CNN's report that half the debate was spent bickering over comments that made a big splash. Technically, CNN was just reporting what happened.

What I wonder, though, is if the press isn't getting a little too far away from its traditional gatekeeper role. We paraphrase quotes, and cut self-serving information from press releases. Is it just as logical for us to place the information that people most need for making their decisions at the top of our articles, even if that information didn't dominate the debate? What do you think?