My theory is that it&#x27;s a problem with the very nature of &quot;news&quot; with human psychology.<p>In short it&#x27;s that The News is about sensation, what&#x27;s new, what&#x27;s uncommon. It&#x27;s not essential for any of us to read the news every day ultimately. If someone important happens we will hear from it on our other channels incidentally. I suspect that none of us actually enjoy reading the news or watching tv news.<p>So - a news startup which needs mass appeal to take off has to appeal to all the same users that currently consumes news, right? But, given the opportunity on the internet people tend to avoid the normal sensationalist news if they are getting it somewhere else, why should I want to go to a news aggregator?<p>I believe there to be the disconnect because it&#x27;s about targeting the mass market - but it seems as if more niche sites with niche audiences tend to be more successful.<p>I also suspect that news aggegrators pitch by saying &quot;look at all this news! See how many sources the news comes from! Witness how our solution makes it easier to consume&quot; without addressing why someone consumes the news.