I totally understand and it reminds me of the issue with the joker. Only difference is Joker has been done very well in multiple iterations and lex really hasn't. Yet directors constantly choose to go back to that well. I would love to see brainiac as well but if his character doesn't fit this story why use him.
Truthfully, I think this has more to do with the story like I mentioned earlier. You can get those scenes with Clark as a journalist if you have Lex Luthor as the villain. They have to take the approach with superman as Nolan and Reeves are doing with Batman, which is, choose the villain that fits the story that helps Clark/superman have a character.
If people can't care about superman then don't bother making the movie. The previous movies have clearly struggled with making superman connect with the general audience. For what it's worth, Gunn, made people care about the Guardians heroes. That's what he needs to do here.