If the economy is so strong, why does the media need to resort to such desperate measures for attention? Like, shouldn't they also be reaping profits and such from the healthy economy, and as such not have to be forced into this grubby practice of manufacturing dissatisfaction?

What a strange argument. No matter the economical situation, companies will still want to maximize profits. In the case of the media, drawing the most attention, which results in depressing doomsaying, regardless of reality

So are you saying that, no matter what, the media will always have this tendency? Like we are doomed as humanity to be forever ill informed and drawn towards pessimism?

If that is so, then why even complain or feel bad about this stuff? Like all this discourse feels pretty futile if you don't even believe a different state of affairs is possible...

It will have that tendency, unless something else corrects for that behavior, such as people constantly calling them out on it.

Crime will always exist, too, but we don't stop fighting that, either. It's part of life that we fight against bad things, even if we can't possibly eliminate that bad thing permanently.

On the brighter side of things, the internet has provided people to more information than ever before, and cell phones have put that information in their pocket. People can and do look up things all the time and inform themselves.

If you truly believe this is the situation, I just don't understand how you can also think that constantly calling them out does anything at all. Its not doing much right now at least.

All you end up doing from this point of view is reinforce the very pessimism you are arguing against by posing this entire aspect of our society as forever broken

Also, is it not "the media" anymore when I inform myself on the internet? Where is the line there?

That’s not the whole picture.

Most of western civilization is in severe danger of collapsing into fascist dictatorships or being taken over by same, egged on by truly deranged billionaires who somehow don’t think it will negatively affect them. Antivax hysteria is bringing back mid-20th century disease. Climate change appears to be accelerating on the worst-case side. Militarized police departments. Racial injustice has always been with us in the USA, but now it’s been made visible to everyone, and it’s very clear that some people — who were supposed to be the good guys — not only don’t care, but actively support it. Multiple state governments are now encouraging book banning and child labor. Do we need to mention women’s healthcare?

And you, old person, are saying “you have it better than I had it in 1970’s jfc” — that’s true for some values of “you” and “I”, but you’re completely missing the point.