Benephraim,
According to many (most?) poskim, there is an obligation to learn Torah at every moment. This is learned from the possuk in Yehoshua “לא ימוש”.
Wasting even one moment of learning Torah is the serious aveira of bittul torah.
If someone must stop learning in order to make a living, he is permitted to do so, but he must have a set time to learn in morning and night. This is just the minimum shiur, but every free moment from work must be devoted to Torah learning.
If someone needs various entertainment/news outlets as a break in between learning so that he can go back to learning with more vigor, it seems to be מותר (assuming that they are compeletly up to kosher standards).
This idea is in no way bal tosif.
בסנהדרין צט, א מפרש הפסוק “ודבר ה’ בזה . . הכרת תכרת” על כל שאפשר לעסוק בתורה ואינו עוסק. וראה לקוטי אמרים תניא פ”א.
See Tanya ch. 25 that the reason why we say סלח לנו three times a day is because of being עובר the aveira of ביטול תורה.