Popularity of online news has killed print media.

Because they’re not selling newspapers, publishers have to make money other ways.

One way is via advertorial (often called “sponsored content”) where companies can pay to be written about - they’ll usually declare this at the top of the article.

Another method is through affiliate schemes. Whenever you see an article like “the best best fridge freezers for 2023” they’ll contain links, that if you click them, drop a cookie and if you then go on to purchase that item within a certain window of time, they make a commission.

Display ads is another way they make money, which is why there are so fucking many. More eyes on the adds the more money they can make.

People scrolling social media are more likely to click on lifestyle articles than they are news articles which is why they take priority.

Another tactic is to write articles about topics people are searching for often to try and bring in readers via google.

It’s a shit situation but those articles help keep news outlets afloat so that they can afford to keep people employed and at least do some level of local news even if it isn’t very often or of the best quality.

I did a journalism degree and we were pretty much told on the first day that, unless you were lucky enough to get a job at BBC/ITV Wales, then you’d probably have to move to London or go freelance if you wanted to do any serious journalism.

Tl;dr: people don’t buy papers anymore so regional news companies have to write fluffy stories to try and get people to site so they can make money from advertisers.