I think some of it might also be a function (or consequence) of the CMS being used for the site. You can either figure out a redesign that elegantly solves the

I think some of it might also be a function (or consequence) of the CMS being used for the site. You can either figure out a redesign that elegantly solves the problem (as NPR have done, offering a purely plain text version of their site), which might not be so easy depending on the tech; or you can treat the entire thing as pluggable and just add every new feature as a drop-in modal. Hell, if you've got a marketing team dependent on stuff like Google Tag Manager, then have them throw it in there. Job done. Not great for the users.