The later, the parroting of facts and the inability to go into deep detail besides being told information tidbits and repeating them is what makes the NPC so chilling in todays world. Especially when a few people get that high level of norieity and trust.
I am unsure if you are saying not watching the news makes him an NPC, or if the people who just parrot the news are the NPCs.
I am leaning toward the latter, but based on your wording and the wording of the parent post, that's not what I initially expected.