1, complicates and slows down update, which is typically more important in OLTP than OLAP
2, is generally bad for high cardinality columns, which requires tracking cardinality to make decisions, which further complicates things.
lastly, additional operational complexity (like the table maintenance system you described in last paragraph) could reduce system reliability, and they might decide it's not worth the price or against their philosophy.
This is not news for anyone paying attention to the media space. The big question is ... is there a way out? Or are we destined to have a small number of powerful organizations controlling world's information and in extension, our thought?
One of the company I worked for once received request from a news outlet about potential rumor around us, and bullied our CEO into an interview to disprove that rumor.
Then the journalist picked several quotes out of context as proof that rumor being true.
While I don't trust megacorps, I don't know if I can trust journalists more when a major breaking news is on the line.