CBS and FOX focus on crime, but to what effect?

In earlier US Weekly Election Reports, we showed that most of the main concerns of US citizens barely reached the 1.5 percent perception threshold of all reports broadcast: concern no. 1 inflation was at one percent, concern no. 4 drug abuse received a broadcast time of 0.5 percent, etc. However, TV stations give a great deal of airtime to the main concern no. 7 – crime. With what intention?

Journalists have known for decades that reports about people throwing themselves in front of trains can lead to copycat effects: in the days following the reports, there were even more suicides in the same way. Since then, journalists have been using different words and the copycat effects have stopped. The intense coverage of school shootings suggest a similar effect – the TV stations are hardly holding back. Click rates matter – instead of lives?