I think the media has just tapped into the general sense nationwide that things are so much more crazy right now than they used to be. It's something that I've felt. I don't feel safe going for a walk at night anymore, which is something that I used to do all the time, alone, and without a second thought. If we take it for granted that crime is not on the rise, and it is the media that is to blame, I actually think much more blame should be placed on local media for this. At least around here, every local news headline from a source within a hundred miles is something related to murder, kidnapping, assault, child neglect/abduction/molestation/assault/abuse/murder/you name it, high-speed police chases, officers getting shot, hard drug trafficking, human trafficking, and any other horrible crime you can think of. I have heard anecdotally that it's the same many other places in the nation. Also to blame are the streaming services and networks for turning every single true crime story, no matter how famous or obscure, into a miniseries.
But again, none of this would be popular if it wasn't exactly what Americans wanted to see.
100% agree with this. I and many other people I know consume literally zero right-wing media and still feel much less safe out and about than we did 2-3 years ago (not to defend right-wing media in any way).
IDK, maybe it's down to the part of the country you're in, but I really haven't gotten this feeling at all recently. Or maybe more specifically, I'd say we're back to "pre-COVID" levels of comfort going out. The only change I've noticed is just that there tend to be fewer other people out thanks to fewer people working downtown and lots of malls closing in the last couple of years, which, I guess can make it sometimes feel weird in an eerie way, but not in an unsafe-feeling way. Also I'm not a demographic who has a lot of the worries that people of other demographics might have if they were to walk around a downtown at night.
