mystery wrote:
my year 9 can't abide "news" in any shape or form.
She is going to make a great social scientist; well on the way to realising that there is no such thing as 'news' - it is all a social construct anyway.

Try 'The Conversation' (online) for some non-news-type news. This is also a great resource for getting young people to think about things beyond the narrow portrayals in mainstream media outlets. Also Radio 4 - some really intelligent speech on a variety of interesting subjects, all podcastable. Speech is undervalued imho in the feverish quest to get children reading.
ETA - you reminded me of 'Readers' Digest' Mystery. I used to like that too - a neighbour used to pass old copies onto us. I recall the series 'I am John's/Jane's x' with x being a body part. 'I am John's bladder' for some reason has stuck with me. Very illuminating, but I remember my mother taking the one about testicles off me.