I think your last question is valid: Yes, I think it _could_ do it, but I think it's gotta get better at displaying such content. At least if one thinks that newspapers need more than just text. (Maybe they don't...)
In any case, your example doesn't really grab me too much. Not that I don't think it's a worthy effort, it's just that it really displays to me why I don't want to read RSS feeds on the Reader. Each time I see something I want more info on, I have to put down the Reader and go to the computer. At that point I'm thinking, well, just fire up NetNewsReader and read the rest of the feeds.