The whole issue with the label of "news" is that it connotes that something is objectively reported.

No, "news" refers to descriptions of events. I believe that releases of modules do not qualify, depending on how important the change to a module is to how we use Perl. The identity of the person doing what you're complaining about -- conflating "Perl News" with "CPAN activity" -- does not enter into this judgement, in my opinion. I would not recommend being frightened by self-promotion, rather than by lack of participation or ability to parse the names of the sections of sites such as this.