The real strength of Reddit is joining the subreddits that pertain to your interests, but I agree that maybe cleaning up the 'default' subreddits is a good idea. There are plenty of people that just lurk with no account or never change the defaults.
An old reporter adage: news is something someone doesn't want to hear.
In that regard, I don't think reddit is really news in a hardcore sense. It has cool shit, fun articles, hilarious threads, party facts for days. But news? News, and obviously this is a big generalization, is inherently uncomfortable to read.
Reddit is a feature factory, not a newsfeed. You can learn a lot from it, but I'll politely disagree about the usage of news--not that your opinion is wrong, mine's just different.
The subreddits I read have plenty of news, about fields I am interested in - both serious technical fields and leisure related activities. Sure, r/pics is full of memes and funny stuff, but I get real information and commentary from the subreddits I follow. I certainly consider it news, even in the sense you present.
