"Read three books on a topic and you know more about it than 99% of the world."
That's why it's called "news", it's living, recent information that is in the making, being talked about and discussed. Everything else is great but it's something different and likely is encapsulated by an echo chamber.
Nothing against reading up books about politics for instance but it's at best complementary to news. At worst - not being a political scientist - you might select the "wrong" book and find yourself wasting time how people describe obscure views.
But yes, in general I agree of course. Watching/reading too much news can be draining. But really, our current democracy is built on the fact that people consume news from at least one mainstream news outlet. How else do you know who to vote for?