It's a holdover from print news media to use uncommon-but-short synonyms in headlines. There might be some benefit online as well, but since it's an established

It's a holdover from print news media to use uncommon-but-short synonyms in headlines. There might be some benefit online as well, but since it's an established jargon/vernacular/dialect/etc of English, they probably just continue to use it out of habit.