First take: Is Kim Kardashian baring all news ؟؟

Kim Kardashian's full-frontal and booty photos in Paper magazine have stirred debates in newsrooms over how organizations should cover celebrity journalism and pop culture. Is it news that a member of reality TV royalty decided to get undressed for a magazine no one had ever heard of before?

Tom Rosenstiel, executive director of the American Press Institute, says that the news media are often used by celebrities and publicity agents to attract more attention.

"This is just a celebrity who took her clothes off," he says. "The fact that it is popular online, I don't know if that tells us something about ourselves as a society that we didn't know already. If it does, I don't think it tells us very much."

USA TODAY decided to post stories on Kardashian prominently, but did not show her fully naked self on the website.

USA TODAY Life Editor Alison Maxwell says it's the news outlet's job to report on what people are talking about and acknowledge what's buzzing in the world of celebrities. "There was nothing bigger than this yesterday or really in the last month or so," she says. "We were doing a service to our readers on reporting on what happened and then taking it to the next level and also having a little fun with it."

For example, USA TODAY ran a story digitally and in print questioning whether a person's butt could look like that without surgical enhancements or Photoshopping. The answer: Doubtful.

Some editors questioned how much time and resources should be devoted to such a tawdry topic as opposed to more substantive journalism.

USA TODAY

Kardashian photo plays off controversial black imagery

"For good or bad, Kim Kardashian is too big a celebrity to ignore, and this magazine spread is news," says David Colton, an executive editor of USA TODAY. "However, I worry that running bare-naked ladies, no matter how newsy, chips away at journalistic standards. Any topic can be covered. It depends on how you cover it. In this case, I think we could have conveyed what happened without showing the photos."

The goal for Paper magazine was to "break the Internet."

"For our winter issue, we gave ourselves one assignment: Break the Internet. There is no other person that we can think of who is up to the task than one Kim Kardashian West. A pop culture fascination able to generate headlines just by leaving her house, Kim is what makes the web tick," Paper's intro to the photos reads.

Emily Yahr, a pop-culture reporter for The Washington Post, wrote a piece on how "Breaking the Internet" was a ridiculous concept.

"Kim Kardashian's butt won't be the thing to break the Internet because it's one of the those things that makes the Internet," Yahr wrote on Wednesday.

ENTERTAIN THIS!

Art or not? Kim Kardashian bares her nude booty for 'Paper' mag

The Post did not highlight the article on its homepage, according to Yahr, and it did not appear in the newspaper. It was featured in the news organization's pop-culture blog.

"It wasn't the most important story of the day," she said a in a telephone interview. "It was trending online so I think it was worth covering but not worth highlighting significantly."

The New York Times has not covered Kardashian's photos, according to Eileen M. Murphy, vp of communications. "We don't cover everything. So far, this story just falls into the category of things we've passed on," Murphy says.

Those who cover news and culture are torn because many became journalists to write about weightier matters than a celebrity socialite who gained fame thanks to a leaked sex tape and reality TV. But the truth is, she is part of the culture. She's been embraced by the fashion industry, she is the wife of a Grammy-winning rapper. We're curious to know what she will do next. So are our readers.

A decade ago, before Facebook and Twitter, these photos would have been noticed but would never have received the massive, instant exposure. .

Ostensibly, Kardashian got exactly what she wanted from those photos -- more Twitter followers (reinforced by multiple promotional tweets), more controversy and another news cycle that spotlights her multi-million dollar franchise.

She's beautiful -- mysterious and yet relatable. And completely unremarkable beyond her looks.

Paper magazine explained in the article that Kardashian spends two hours each morning on her hair and makeup. She digitally categorizes her selfies, which will be turned into a book. And those who bothered to read the interview know she answers like a pro, giving coy, vague responses and vanilla quotes.

"In a few years, people will be talking about how we don't hear about her anymore," Rosenstiel says. "She's famous for being famous. And being outrageous, and being a type. At any given time, there is somebody like her in our culture. She's Pamela Anderson in a different era."