It looks like the author of the article wants to promote his book (see the end of the article) and The Guardian will profit since it provides a link to the book in their own "book shop". And they figure that nobody will actually give up their news addiction after having read the article, so there's no risk to the newspaper's business.

For those who like the article, the complete version from which this article is excerpted can be found here, in PDF form:

http://www.theartofthinkingclearly.com/no-news-2?lang=en

The real irony comes from the author's claims:

> Unlike reading books and long magazine articles (which > require thinking), we can swallow limitless quantities > of news flashes, which are bright-coloured candies for > the mind.

...and the manner of publication:

> This is an edited extract from an essay first published > at dobelli.com. The Art of Thinking Clearly: Better > Thinking, Better Decisions by Rolf Dobelli is published > by Sceptre, £9.99. Buy it for £7.99 at > guardianbookshop.co.uk

But there's a good case to be made for knowing your audience. In that sense, this version is actually much more likely to reach those who might be influenced by it.

That's the first thing I thought. Oh the irony.