Not a perfect replacement by any means, but Google News allows for algorithmically generated news on particular topics. I use it sometimes, mostly for following micro-targeted subjects that otherwise would fall through my news viewing cracks.
https://support.google.com/googlenews/answer/9005601?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en
Of course, curated sites will be much better, but too often these are simply passion projects, and as you discovered with MacSurfer, they aren’t sustainable as a business (and takes lots of time)