If you have steady subscription revenue then you don't really care that much about how many times each story is read. It's more about how to appeal to a readers

If you have steady subscription revenue then you don't really care that much about how many times each story is read. It's more about how to appeal to a readership. Yes, this can be partisan, absolutely. But only if the target market is that partisan readership. There is also a valid non-partisan market that is worth going for. So not all media will be partisan, there will be a spread across the spectrum, with some attempting to be strictly neutral Advertising-driven journalism must get an emotional response in the title to be read, and every click matters. More extreme positions invoke a greater emotional response[0]. There's no room for non-partisan, sensible, balanced coverage because no-one clicks on it when the other option is an article designed to provoke fear or anger. So ad-driven journalism has to go to the extremes to maintain revenue. Hence we see the middle ground becoming a media wasteland, while the extremes get crowded. [0] political campaigns have the same thing: get people angry or afraid and they'll vote. Middle-ground, balanced, logical positions don't get people angry or afraid, so they don't vote. Extreme positions on issues actually work better than "sensible" positions.