Media Risk Distortion

The availability heuristic explains why your fears do not match actual dangers:

• Plane crashes get massive coverage, yet car accidents kill far more people overall and barely make local news
• Terrorism dominates headlines, but you are far more likely to die from a heart attack
• Stranger kidnapping terrifies parents, while family members carry out the vast majority of child abductions
• Exotic diseases trigger panic, yet heart disease kills more quietly and consistently

Media does not report what is common. It reports what is unusual, dramatic, and emotionally charged. Your brain then treats these rare events as representative of reality.