That's not a likely explanation when it comes to Assange. The Guardian has been terrible, and even its previous star reporter Glenn Greenwald (who won them a Pulitzer on the Snowden reporting) has been extremely critical. See for example https://theintercept.com/2019/01/02/five-weeks-after-the-gua...

Brought up again earlier this month: https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1191681248453943296

That piece of fake news from the Guardian has been shared more than 25,000 times on Facebook.

I don't agree that honest reporting on Assange simply won't get clicks. But sensational fake news certainly does.