The unpalatable fact is most people aren't interested in things of importance. Their minds are cramped and largely empty, so they seek out meretricious entertainments centered upon gossip and ephemera. This has always been the case, and it's a major reason why no society aspiring to civilized values can afford news media driven by the need to attract eyeballs in order to generate revenues. Petty scandal can be promulgated elsewhere and marketed honestly as meaningless lowbrow effluvia, but when such vapid nonsense masquerades as news it encourages the simple-minded to imagine they understand some fraction of the world around them.