The BBC seems to be one of the lead offenders at the moment of “beautifying” their news.
I just watched a BBC story on heat in the UK, the reporter saying “as you can see it is beautiful here” and “as measuered by the facility behind me” while being shot at f1.4 (ish) on a longer lens. She honestly looked like she was being shot against a green screen background.
Apart from the unnecessarily shallow depth that avoids the first rule of news footage, which is context, the over beautification of serious subjects helps nobody. You have to wonder why she even went there if the depth of field makes the background irrelevant.
I watched the whole broadcast and pretty much every story was an exercise in shallow depth videography for its own sake.
Take a look at this set
https://documentaryfamilyawards.com/project/environmental-portrait-photo-awards-fall-2021/
Notice the common technique, which is deeper depth to tell a story.
We really have to stop folks, this is getting ridiculous.