why there are always 1) reports of police/crime, and 2) reports of natural disasters/accidents on television.

After all this time, I realised why there are always 1) reports of police/crime, and 2) reports of natural disasters/accidents on television.

Firstly, for crime/police activity, it is to increase the public's belief in the risk of criminal activity (going against the law). The risk here is saying "if you do something against the law, you WILL be caught".
Why do we belive this? Because we see it everyday on TV: people murdering, stealing a car and speeding away, stabbing, shootings, etc., etc., but after this it always states "they were caught by police and will appear in court today", etc. Mass Media is just another way for the state to increase the appearance of the risk of getting caught, and deterring it's population from comitting crimes.

Secondly, for accidents/natural disasters/etc. it is to foster an imagined community within the nation-state. We see people who describe their pains and sorrows after something disastrous happened, and we feel empathy not because they are other humans, but because they also live within our own country. We feel sorry for them as other Australians, and thus this constant stream of images and sounds helps build our relations with other members of our nation-state, even if though we will never meet them (thus an Imagined Community of Australia).

never understand it till now, lol.