I think that in the old days people read newspapers and magazines because there was no other way to spend time in a bus/subway/train/waiting_room without engaging with other people.
So newspapers were entertainment (and status signals) to a much higher degree than journalists wants to admit.
Being informed was only a small part of the job that reading a newspaper did.
This is why Facebook could take over such a large amount of ad spending while it is still correct that only a very small part of time on Facebook is reading "real news".