re: up XX number of points, I haven't bothered for many years, but that sounds like NPR's "All Things Considered" or "Marketplace". Always drove me nuts too and does nothing to help people understand financial markets.
Everyone reports it this way. It used to bother me, but I think it does provide some interesting information vs the % day-to-day. Because % is relative to the previous day, number of points isn’t.
Personally I prefer the %