Hard or Soft news?

Both articles we read for class today, "Facts, Fallacies and Fears of Tabloidization" by Linn Washington and "Off Course" by Michael Massing, show good statistics and reasoning behind the theory that hard news shows are going soft.  Washington brings up the point that tabloid newspapers are decreasing dramatically in sales since the "traditional news organizations" have started printing tabloid-style articles.  I think it only makes sense that these trends should be seen but I also think  that these tabloid-style articles are not as much of a crime as some "hardcore" journalists might make it out to be.  For example, Washington quotes Steyn (a British journalist) as praising the tabloids for getting the word out about Clinton's womanizing and Princess Diana's hollow marriage.  Although these are private lives of public figures, the stories definitely had an impact on their respective countries.  Also, there are some people who will only read a story if it has been sensationalized in the typical tabloid style.  If papers that are supposed to be hard news can get messages out about hard news by disguising it in a soft news shell then I think that there should perhaps be more tabloid style stories in hard newspapers than there already is.  Isn't that the point of a journalist?  To uncover things for their audience and present them in a way that will both intrigue and be understandable for them?