Uh not sure which world you live in, but
1- Newspapers are free in every city I have ever lived in (most end up in trash anyways)
2- Most sites such as Sportsnet are not actually writing anything, they are link magnets who simply repost word for word the same "news" stories you find on hundreds of other sites
3- Journalism died a long time ago
Look over on right side of frame
It is fairly unintrusive which is why I suspect you miss it
Some sites are outright obnoxious about it
The so-called 'free' ad-supported media isn't free at all. It is sold on a per-viewer basis to the advertisers who are exerting more and more control over content and presentation: Insisting story-lines don't show their product in a bad light is content-control, making you respond to a question before viewing is presentation-control. Once the advertisers/customers have done their deal and paid-up, it only remains for the media/supplier to put the content in front of the quantity of eyeballs they contracted for.
For unthinking consumers who simply turn on a radio or TV to receive OTA broadcasts, or pick-up a throwaway paper off the subway seat, it may appears to be free content, but it ain't. Lotsa money was charged and paid before their share was served up.
I use AdBlock to suppress ads (and content) that force themselves on me, rudely and demandingly. Since the advertiser didn't ask or consider what I'd like, pay heed to or tolerate, I see no reason to feel badly about providing that info by demonstration. I would never have been a customer anyway, and since I probably won't see their name, AdBlock may actually save them a little respect. I'll happily tolerate quietly passive and informative ads that just sit at the borders of the page. But experince has taught me to act pre-emptively or I'll suffer.
It's a dialog. The 'bad' ad-hosts track my departure from their stupidly offensive-site without whitelisting it, just as the 'good' ones note I cared enough to tolerate their ads and did as they asked so I could access their content.
We always hope the stupid learn, Or don't reproduce.