It is irksome at times, especially when I'm expecting concise journalism. And it's worse when you realize a given piece was deliberately written in this style

It is irksome at times, especially when I'm expecting concise journalism. And it's worse when you realize a given piece was deliberately written in this style to be more "appealing" (I wouldn't quite use the term "dumbed down," but it's in the same ballpark), and it ironically ends up being done poorly in that format, when it could easily have made a great "pyramid" style article. And by "done poorly" I mean things like, the "story" they're trying to lead off with isn't particularly interesting, and/or has only the most superficial tie-in to the rest of the piece. That's a sign that they tried too hard to graft it on. So I tied an onion to my belt. Which was the style at the time.