You hear news because it is new or at least an exception to the norm. However, if you hear a lot about something in news reports, it is rarely because it is happening more but because the media outlets have been focusing on it.
Here in Ontario a few years back, a truck tire fell off an 18-wheeler and killed a motorist in oncoming traffic. After that news report broke, for about two months one would have been well justified in staying home to avoid all the flying truck tires plaguing the highway — nothing really before or since. Was there really such a spate of incidents? Or were they just reported wherever and whenever they happened?
Parents today accompany their kids pretty much everywhere they go. They are keeping them safe. When I was six I walked to and from school by myself. Is the world a much more dangerous place today? I don’t think it is — but news reports make everyone think it is. Crime is actually down. Child abductions by strangers are still rare enough that they almost always make the news. The most horrific things seem to be perpetrated by family members anyway — but again, rarely enough that these too make the news. (Having said that: I do accompany my youngest son everywhere. Stranger abductions do happen, and I would rather not accept any level of risk.)
My point is that news is both exceptional (usually not indicating a real trend) and trendy (where the media’s own cycle affects what is reported).