We're about to go to war but ...

THIS is still news:

13 may have fatal brain disease

Remote control helicopter kills man   

Student goes into labor, dies in dorm
Snake found in Starbucks toilet 

Because, of course, it is important to know about and be afraid about things that are almost certainly not likely to kill or harm you.

This is one of the issues raised in the book: The media tend to focus on things more the least likely they are to occur, and less the more likely they are to occur.

Take the example of street crime and corporate crime. The former is relatively rare, especially with regard to the worst of the crimes (serious violent crime and murder, for example). The latter happens literally every day and causes more physical and financial harm than all street crimes combined.

And so it is the media that are largely responsible for the misconceptions about crime that we hold.