That means eliminating politics stories, because those:
* Appeal to pretty much anyone with an opinion, including lots of non-hacker types.
* Really suck people in. "Someone is wrong on the internet!"
Look at how many comments there were on the Obama/Broadband story. Were any of them really that interesting? I would expect the hacker mind (at least those who are not devout followers of the 'keep the government out of it' school) to have already arrived at the fact that it's some sort of monopoly/oligopoly situation and to cast about for research on what sorts of policy approaches might cause what effects, and have what sort of consequences, both positive and negative. One minute with Google scholar turns up this, for instance: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119176828/abstrac... Most likely, someone who actually knows something about economics might be able to point to others of interest.
But that takes a lot more effort than the simple sorts of debate that tend to surround those stories.