Jay Beckman writes:

Entertainment value has nothing to do with it.

Entertainment has everything to do with the news today.

The ability to get on top of, and stay on top of a breaking story
insert your own worthy definition here is the coal that fires the
sales department. Wanting to be top dog and be able to proclaim that
"When News Breaks, We Fix It..! *" equates to more advertising
dollars. Cash is King.

Same thing. See above.

Unfortunately, there is a rampant sense of "If It Bleeds, It Leads" in
many newsrooms now days and the Phoenix market (being relatively close
to Los Angeles both physically and in attitude) tends to follow that
trend to a fault.

It has been a vice of the news media since time immemorial, or at least since
they had to to depend on circulation or viewership to generate revenue.