Cheryl Cole has announced she's splitting from footballer husband Ashley.

The question is: how much prominence should the story get in The Northern Echo?

I believe our readers have an expectation that celebrity gossip stories should be kept in perspective.

The Sun, Daily Star, and Daily Mirror will almost certainly lead their front pages on the Cole separation story tomorrow - but The Northern Echo certainly will not.

I'd stake my hat - if I had one - on the headline in at least one tabloid tomorrow being "The ex-factor".

Gordon Brown will be in a better mood because it will keep the bullying row off the biggest-selling front pages.

Despite my reservations, it's impossible to deny that there is huge interest in the story. Due to X Factor exposure, Cheryl Cole has replaced Princess Diana as the nation's sweetheart.

And she is, after all, a North-East lass.

The Echo will have a mention of the story on page one and devote its main feature page to the background to the separation. But we'll be leading the front page on a different story. That, in my view, is the perspective.

I was asked live on Radio Tees earlier this evening if I thought that media pressure was to blame for the split.

It's not the media's fault, was my answer. Celebrities like Ashley and Cheryl Cole play the media game every bit as much as the editors.

The breakdown of their marriage has been played out in the tabloids. They sold the rights to their wedding in 2006 to OK magazine.

You can't have it both ways, I'm afraid.