As a kid in the 70s it seemed like there were plane crashes somewhere every month. And basically there were.

Today media is a 24/7 business that needs to make headlines every hour. Some things being covered are newsworthy but frankly many are not. Media, especially social media, need to make everything a headline and push news to us constantly. The internet has made the delivery of these headlines much easier, nearly instantaneous. With so many media companies and channels competing for our attention we end up drowning in "news".

Go with statistics. Air travel, including on every US airline, is safe. Getting in a car and going somewhere is far riskier.