Perry White is an old-school newshound and he hates the direction the news media has gone. So he starts the Daily Planet with a small staff of dedicated, half-insane, idealistic journalists and bloggers and social activists, using social media to bypass the old channels completely. Old century reporter mentality provided with a new century methodology. You can also use Perry's many and varied contacts from around the globe (he has decades of contacts built up after all) to enrich and expand your background cast. You say that, for drama, Perry borrowed the money to get started from Lex Luthor, and while Luthor doesnt own the Planet, Perry does owe Lex a favor.
So this gives the Planet, and by extension Clark, an underdog quality that everyone loves to root for. Will the daring young media start-up survive their first year, or get swallowed whole by Morgan Edge's Galaxy Media Group? Will Lois break her story first, or get beat out by her corporate-funded rival? Will Lex Luthor call in that favor and kill the story of the century? And what kind of damage could he do if Perry refuses? The Planet could claw and climb its way to the top of the heap and become the next Google or Facebook, or it could be forever chasing that dream.
You also get to tie Clark's day job into his job as Superman again. Just to survive, a site like this would require everyone to be on the road, looking under rocks no one else is looking under so they can break the news that gets everyone's attention (and money). If Jimmy stumbles over an underground zombie army in Chicago, Clark is going to hear about it that much sooner and that only helps Superman. A tiny, "underground" news site also isnt going to ask a lot of questions about how Clark gets across national borders, while the traditional, corporate Planet requires travel vouchers and passports and has partners and stock holders, all concerned about how their money is being spent.
Chasing the story around the globe makes Clark's job viable and interesting again, and all you have to do to pull it off is change the venue the Planet works on.