In a barely coherent story for USA Today that goes a long way toward explaining why newspapers are in so much trouble, Kitty Bean Yancey struggles to report that some hotels are lending ebook reading devices to guests.

First, she starts with an enticing lede: “Electronic reading devices are kindling hotel guests’ interest.” Get it? Get it?

Except that the hotels she talks about first — the Gansevoort chain — are lending, well, Sony Readers to guests. Why? Because, reports Yancey, doing so “appeals to carry-on aficionados who don’t want to lug lots of reading material, says Gansevoort New York sales and marketing director Suzi DeAngelis.” Meaning they get to take the Sony Reader home? Or if they just mean at the hotel, wouldn’t it be just as easy to have actual books on hand? Oh, never mind.

They’re doing it at New York’s Algonquin Hotel, too — Kindles this time — although Yancey doesn’t try to report the reasoning behind it. Just as well.