My first point was that newspapers have not changed their reporting in any substantive ways over the past decades, so any perceived or measured increase of anxi

My first point was that newspapers have not changed their reporting in any substantive ways over the past decades, so any perceived or measured increase of anxiety cannot have been directly caused by their reporting. Selectively picking news or overexposure to news sources could be part of the problem, though. Nytimes is not a major pusher of crisis. My second point was that the OP did not differentiate between newspapers and TV channels, but that their reporting is substantially different. I have no doubt that exposure to an abundance of 'news' TV channels such as Fox News or CNN, and their online services, can increase anxiety and maybe even distort people's views of the world. For example, the overall conditions for mankind is continuously improving in terms of standards of living, hygienic and medical standards, equality, absence of wars and major conflicts, etc., conditions have generally even improved in the worst regions of the world, but this is not commonly perceived that way. But the claim is that this effect is mostly due to TV, not due to newspapers and other news sources. Of course, I could be wrong about that, just wanted to clarify what I've meant. Finally, neither this nor any other statement I have made has anything to do with politics.