That’s not a fair comparison, The New Yorker has always had a different relationship with its writers. A freelancer who writes for The New Yorker is likely a highly respected journalist/author/other luminary. Their staff writers are, I believe, technically contractors as they’re not W2 employees.

Contractor-written slop at these content farms, as described by TFA, have nothing in common with how content works at The New Yorker.

This is not at all the same thing. The New Yorker pays its freelancers. In the example in the article, the money is flowing from the content producer to the publisher, meaning it's an ad.