As an editor the word "only" is usually a red flag for me. It's an easy way for a reporter to slip in his or her own opinion about whether a number is so high as to merit concern or so low as to not be worth fretting about. A fine example is this paragraph from a dispatch from Regensburg, Germany, which appears in today's Times under the headline "Benedict's Brother Says He Was Unaware of Abuse":
Reports of physical and sexual abuse in the choir, the Regensburger Domspatzen in Bavaria, first emerged in 2010 as part of a nationwide wave of revelations linking officials of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany to the mistreatment of children. But an internal report by the church identified only 72 cases of abuse in the Regensburg Diocese, most involving severe corporal punishment.
"Only" 72 cases of abuse? Seems like a lot to me. The story could have been improved by editing out the words "But" and "only."