[chrchr]

I think you're misunderstanding what's happening here.

In traditional journalism using wire stories (or "curated content partners"), the publisher (Forbes, CNN, etc.) pays for the content.

In the case of CNN Underscore, the "content partners" are paying CNN to use their good name to peddle advertorial content. Like if I want to run a cryptocurrency scam, I can pay CNN or Forbes to run a story on their website touting the benefits of my fake product. To a non-observant reader, it will appear to actually be coming from CNN or Forbes.

This is a long way from CNN running something from the Associated Press or Reuters.