we are bombarded by more and more information sources, not necessarily more discrete information much of it is repeat relays of the same info.
Most of us lack the tools needed to be able to sort through it all and we tend to apply filters. We either ignore ALL news and just concentrate on areas we feel most comfortable with like sports or movies or other feel good sources. Or we filter hard news either by trusted sources or by political labels
One thing that the media does - whether it actually means to or not, is magnify things beyond their actual size or import. the constant repeating and updating of the same news stories makes it appear that whatever is being reported on is increasing in number.
This gives so many wrong impressions that it is sometimes hard to sort them out.
People will drive in preference to flying when doing so increases their risk of being hurt or being killed, 10 times.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/space/how-risky-is-flying.html
From 1993 through 2012 the violent crime rate in the USA has
halved -
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/uc...and_rate_per_100000_inhabitants_1993-2012.xls
The single biggest school massacre happened in 1927, not in this century and was done using bombs not guns.
Deaths from school related violence has been declining as well
http://crimepreventionresearchcente...umber-of-deaths-has-been-declining-over-time/
Despite all the raving from all sides the world is a safer place than it was, though that does not hold true for every place of course but in the west it is very much the case.