I thought it was a breaking news / magazine format that I encountered last week .. unfortunately, seems to have spread to other sections too.
Why are news sites insisting on shoving a large "hero image" into our faces, even when we don't want one?
I fought some colleagues on this issue on some content sites / sections and was politely told that I was too old / cranky to appreciate this design format - but the more I see it, the more I dislike it!