> Thats precisely why news businesses exist in the first place.

Nah. My view is that news exist for entertainment. That might not be their stated goal, but it's why people consume them.

I do not claim they educate but benefit from the mainstream ignorance about a vast variety of topics.

News categorically doesn't educate.

The Guardian (yes, ironically a provider of "News"), published an extract from the writings of "The Art of Thinking Clearly" author with some decent enough bullet points on this that are difficult to argue with:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/apr/12/news-is-bad-ro...

I've always found myself to very much agree with Jefferson's views [1] on the topic of news, and I agree with this piece as well. I observe in myself that I'm generally happier and more productive the less I expose myself to "the news".

I think there's a threshold of distance and size where it stops being useful to the average person. Too far away? Can't do anything about it? Better not weigh down your mind by getting stressed about it.

[1] http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/amendI_spe...