Let's get one thing straight, the audience for profit driven news outlets is not readers, the audience is advertisers. News is about making money, and maximizing profits, nothing more. If their profits are down, so what, they will be held accountable by shareholders, not the public. The news industry is no different than selling soap.
If the news industry is struggling, it is their problem, not mine. 
Perhaps, reporters need to throw away everything they learned in J-school about how to craft a story, how to play on the emotions of readers, how to tell people what to think.
Remove adjectives from stories. All I want to know is that there was a car crash that killed 3 people, don't tell me it is "tragic," let me decide for myself. And please stop writing at the grade 8 level, I am an adult and can understand adult language.