This makes sense for big, well researched investigative journalism. But that is not the case for the other 95% of the drivel on most news sites -— the engagement driving crap that keeps the lights on.
Lots of people want to see sports scores, news, and commentary. I'm not a "sports guy", but those types of benign tribal affinities can help community cohesion and also generate revenue for more expensive forms of journalism. I don't think it's a bad thing, either for people who get excited to "root for the home team" and get that from a newspaper, or the newspaper reaping that reward and reallocating it elsewhere in the business.
They don’t even make most of that 95%. It’s licensed from wire services like Reuters and AP.