The problem here is multi-fold. On the one hand you have the fundamental problem of comparing what did happen with what might have happened. There are too many possibilities and too much complexity in that problem to ever come up with an objective answer.
On the other hand, the news media is not about informing people it's about getting as many viewers as possible, so we hear a lot more about exceptional events than we do about ordinary developments. Unfortunately, the human psyche isn't well protected against hearing lots of exceptional news, so people develop quite distorted ideas about the world and events within it (and develop quite distorted risk models as well).
The danger of a distorted perception of reality and of excessive and unwarranted pessimism is that it can quite easily lead to devaluation and neglect of the very things that are in actuality making life better.
On the other hand, the news media is not about informing people it's about getting as many viewers as possible, so we hear a lot more about exceptional events than we do about ordinary developments. Unfortunately, the human psyche isn't well protected against hearing lots of exceptional news, so people develop quite distorted ideas about the world and events within it (and develop quite distorted risk models as well).
The danger of a distorted perception of reality and of excessive and unwarranted pessimism is that it can quite easily lead to devaluation and neglect of the very things that are in actuality making life better.