You can dismiss all news as being misinformation, but even the shadiest outlets report some semblance of facts. It's the cause of the news that's often up for debate.
I think this is a great example. Why should anyone outside of Texas even care about the power outages and waste time "informing themselves" about it.
Or they may the citizens of a democratic polity being called upon to evaluate competing energy policy alternatives where the facts of the Texas case have potential bearing.
Or, well, lots of other possibilities.
I would add that the news does a terrible job of serving and educating those interests.
For me it was the dead family members before it was reported. Victims have victim shit to do. They aren't watching the news for updates.
> What does it matter if I am uninformed on those two topics?
You have to consider how you spend your time. Not reading on the happenings in your city, state, and country is a choice that you make every time you do something different. Is what you sacrifice by being up to date on the latest happenings more important? Then do that. You would be in the majority.
> What does it matter if I am uninformed on most topics?
For the same reason we teach history in school.
Profoundly disagree. An uninformed voter may vote poorly. A misinformed voter will unequivocally vote poorly. I'll take my chances with the uninformed to not create a dystopian mess.