I have worked (a lot) with modern era online publishers - read more traditional outlets learning how to make the Internet work for them.

Having a team of devs available isn't the issue to them. More modern news startups often also are funded by Omidyar (ebay co-founder) and can thus invest in things.

But the bigger hurdle would be pitching the awesomeness to them. If they can be presented with a MVP at low cost, most definitely will many jump on it. Especially since many/some have expandded into also allowing netizens to contribute in a corner.

Think how iCNN could have been different with this. Another great example would have been Squidoo, but Squidoo's model is closer to Steemit itself, minus the blockchain.