Although it's correct that the article itself is completely derivative, the simple fact that the story is in the FT provides new information. The fact that this narrative can go mainstream is itself fascinating and new, and worth discussing.
Would that they were discussing the fact that it's in the mainstream media, but it seems that they're simply hashing over the same ground in the other items.
On the contrary, searching for "mainstream", "ft", "financial times", or "media" in the comments for the ft article suggests that people actually are discussing the fact that it is now in the mainstream media. It might not be the majority of the comments, but at least those subjects are broached in there, and much more so than in the other threads.
But regardless of whether people are discussing something new, my point is that the story reaching the broader media is an interesting information point in of itself. Whether HNers choose to discuss that in an intelligent manner is an entirely different thing.
That being said, like you, I am also bugged by the repetitive stories -- both in this instance and more generally. And although I think that sometimes multiple submissions are warranted and useful (when the story changes, or there are new sources, etc.), I think that often new threads add very little to the discussion.
I still love it here though. But I only lurk, so...
The original title for that submission was something to the effect of "AirBnB story now on the front page of the Financial times". It has been edited to be both more in lines with the traditional HN submission guidelines (i.e. the topic of the submission, no editorializing) and less representative of the actual point of interest.
