The media love a good scare and a sensational headline, but new research indicates the fear they spread about the dangers of sitting too much may be overblown.

In recent years, media outlets compared sitting to health risks like smoking, and even warned “Sitting will kill you.” Today told viewers sitting was “literally killing us” back on Sept. 18, 2015. ABC’s Deborah Roberts even claimed sitting was “one of the greatest risks to our health.” One expert CBS turned to went so far as to claim “any” sitting was “too much.”

Ten years ago, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana, destroying homes, businesses, and claiming more than 1,000 lives. The networks saw Katrina as a harbinger of climate doom.

Hurricane Katrina was the 7th-most intense Atlantic hurricane on record, the third-deadliest in US history, and the most expensive at roughly $108 billion (including economic impact,). That was more than twice as costly as Tropical Storm Sandy, which hit New York and New Jersey in 2012.

CBS "Evening News" attempted to show that there is no link between vaccines and autism on February 10, but seemed confused that anti-vaccination views got "traction at all."

CBS News National Correspondent Jim Axelrod did a good job of showing how a "discredited" study by Dr. Andrew Wakefield scared parents away from the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, but he failed to acknowledge that his own network played a part in that fearmongering.

The American food stamps program has experienced “unprecedented” and “unsustainable” growth under President Barack Obama according to experts, but the broadcast news media have virtually ignored this bad news this election year.

The three broadcast networks would rather not remind voters that a record number of Americans received food stamps under the Obama presidency, or that more than 46 million Americans have been on food stamps for 35 straight months. While Obama has said that “every single one” of his policies is “on the ballot” this fall, the media have worked hard to protect him from bad news, especially if there can be any connection.

An American teenager, along with two Israeli teens, has been kidnapped in Israel. “[T]wo jihadist groups had posted claims of responsibility for kidnapping the teens,” according to The Washington Post. Israel is in an uproar as the government tries to find them.

But in America, the broadcast networks are breathlessly covering the new movie “22 Jump Street.” In fact, ABC, CBS and NBC have devoted more than 10 and a half minutes to the sophomoric slapstick movie comedy. That’s more than twice what they’ve given to the kidnapping.