Can my News page link to press coverage on other sites?

Yes. When you create a news article, an Article Type switch sits under the title: Internal Article (the default, a normal article you write in blocks) or External Press Link. An external article is a pointer to coverage somewhere else: you give it a title, a feature graphic, and the link to the outside piece, and set its publish date and category under Config like any article.

External articles appear in your News listings alongside your own articles, sorted by publish date, but clicking one opens the outside coverage in a new tab instead of a page on your site. They stay out of your sitemap since there is no on-site page to index.