This is an important point that a lot of people don't understand...newspapers are ads surrounded with some engaging content.

The advertising is what earns the money. If surrounding the ads with nothing but stories about cats and cat pictures got people to look at the newspapers then that's exactly what the publishers would do. But people want to read about the misfortunes of others and dirt on celebrities so that's what they print. They're not inherently interested in reporting on useful information. Just selling ad space.