i think this has more to do with the innate tendency of a capitalist media machine: getting people into an addictive hype cycle of merchandisable content is profitable, having them read at home isn’t. content that makes one think and question takes time and effort to process and raises the bar for the audience, lowering the profit potential. making stuff that seems clever without being so is even better, the audience feels good about themselves.

Adorno reasoned this decades ago. it’s not difficult to understand why media industries in modern states produce such little thought provoking material. some of it has to do with the fact that it’ll never be popular anyway, but a difference in complexity of material is observable over time and also between countries with more and less capitalist economies.