Pretty much this in a nutshell. Indeed, if you ever want to know (another) reason a lot of news sites seem to be posting articles to troll or bait their reader

Pretty much this in a nutshell. Indeed, if you ever want to know (another) reason a lot of news sites seem to be posting articles to troll or bait their reader, that's because the per click model incentivises stirring up angry mobs rather than starting a civil debate. So for any writers without anything meaningful to say... well, just find the most obnoxious, audience baiting thing possible, back it up with a bunch of thinly sourced 'support' posts and watch your article trend on Reddit within an hour or two. Or maybe on Twitter. It's also why comment sections were virually unmoderated until recently... a civil debate brings less comments than a heated flame war between lunatics.