I think it's a side effect of America's culture war and more recently intensified political war. Fly over vs coasts. And some of misery loves company. And jealousy, California is just kind of cool, not everyone is brave enough to take the chance and move or has the resources. So it's comforting to see oh they're miserable over there.

Though, NY media writes negative stuff about sf too, I think they're jealous that the bay area might be cooler than NYC. When NY has been the one of the ideal places to be for while lol