I'm from the U.S. and I very rarely read those newspapers, the general feeling is those focus on Local news anyway (Except LA Times, which has a lot of interest in entertainment/art nationally). Complying with the privacy rules is probably something beyond their technical ability depending on their parent media corporation's support. Most newspapers are owned by a small handful of huge mega corps and rely on the mega corp "headquarters" to funnel financial and human resources support (i.e. technical help). Some may not be using the same publishing platform as the main parent making it more complicated.

So, the news I tend to read are my own metro news papers and then followed by NY Times, Washington Post (until I hit the paywalls) followed by probably Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, and then a mix of network television news websites. I do occasionally read BBC News and the Guardian.

If I access via the Google News feed I do not usually check the source before I click and just scroll through the top stories. I tend to avoid FOX "news" or huffpost, though.

I'm not sure if my news consumption habits are typical but I do not think there's anything nefarious or mysterious about this blocking. It's just I know how these papers do not have funds and the red tape and bureaucracy they must deal with from "corporate" usually back east in NY.