The intended recipients of these press releases are mainly the people who make decisions for funding agencies. Due to the highly competitive nature of funding, people working in fairly esoteric (if interesting) fields like gravity waves need to demonstrate some sort of applicability to adjacent areas of science.
In USA biology, there is a similar problem- it's known as the "Make Senators Believe Your Funding Will Cure Their Disease Problem" whereby even the simplest basic discoveries get pumped up to sound like they've cured cancer to induce future funding.
I’ve heard recently that a lot of the research funding for looking for the Loch Ness Monster is to marine biologists, who study the life in the lake (and also look for a monster a little bit, as a treat).
In USA biology, there is a similar problem- it's known as the "Make Senators Believe Your Funding Will Cure Their Disease Problem" whereby even the simplest basic discoveries get pumped up to sound like they've cured cancer to induce future funding.