Is Black Friday A News Event?

Across the country last week, print, online and broadcast journalists documented the Black Friday shopping phenomenon as though it was a presidential election.

Some outlets revealed where the best deals could be found and when. Other outlets harkened back to previous years when Black Friday shoppers became unruly and sometimes even violent.

Is Black Friday a news event? Are the journalists providing a service to their audiences or are they just promoting retailers, many of whom are their advertisers?