After newspapers fell into the hands of large corporations, their greed made them go after the mass market. To make their products more appealing to the masses, they turned news reporting into comedy. Over the years they created and groomed this new segment of customers, who have come to expect a good dose of serious sounding humor along with their morning cup of coffee.
All was hunky dory until comedians took notice of this very large market that was being delivered a big pile of dull humor every day, to their doorstep. The rest, as they say, is history.