There are various issues with the news. The most severe is the lack of continuity. What this means is that the "news" is essentially a series of headlines without any follow through information on what happens next. We need news that provides a before (history) and after (what happens next) the headline.
I understand there is no singular purpose of the news, and that the idealized purpose is likely very different than the functional purpose. However, for many of us, we read [sic] the news to better understand the world. For a few of us, we need real information to gauge the causes and effects of our actions; a very messy source of this information is better than nothing.
I have no problem with headlines, propaganda, making money, pushing a narrative, having fun, and searching for the truth. All I ask is that we make a small space where we can also learn the immediate context of a headline and then its aftermath.
Functionally what would this look like? Imagine a big headline. Above that is the immediate background and perhaps older historical information leading to the event. After that is a dated series of updates on how the story developed next and any repercussions. Track the story until it is arbitrarily deemed complete. Kind of like a Wikipedia article or a bug tracking system. That's it.
PS this is not the same as long form journalism. While potentially wonderful, it is not news.
PPS this is tangentially related to the concept that we collectively, desperately need a better appreciation of history. This is a longer topic. The condensed version is that everything has a history and we need to understand and respect that history in order to inform the present and future.