I always thought that it was just an attempt at making the piece look more literary and less dry, it's especially common in long form journalism. You want a pro

I always thought that it was just an attempt at making the piece look more literary and less dry, it's especially common in long form journalism. You want a protagonist, acts, a resolution. It's news but also a novel. I think many people also want to be able to relate and empathize with the character in the story and don't like very technical pieces, see for instance 99% of Hollywood blockbusters. You want romance and tension, not cold sci-fi. I don't mind it too much personally but I'm sure that a lot of the time many of these details are over-emphasized or maybe sometimes completely made up to paint a more vivid picture. That's fine for a novel but not so great for a journalistic endeavor.