[ewolf]

I think this highly depends on the what you consider "news". Aaron mentioned things you find on the front page — those usually are short pieces of the latest information without much context or in-depth analysis. I don't think he wanted to condemn background articles, no matter if they are published in a newspaper or elsewhere (he mentions "longer-form essays or thoughtful books").

With this in mind, I agree with him — I benefit more from comprehensive articles describing long-term developments than from the latest events in some affair that affects me way too little for these details to matter to me. This is not to say that the happenings in faraway countries are something I ought not to know about, however, a short summary after the events have passed would usually suffice.