A lot of it is what they don't report, and most of this applies to the national news. Some select news stories make it national. A lot that many would think should do not. Some areas of the world get complete media blackout in the US national news.
I was at the Indiana national lake shore when a man named Gonzola Silva drowned due to not knowing how to swim and being pulled out by rip current, in an attempt to reach his nephew who had gotten out too far but did make it back. The account of the accident in the local news very much factually incorrect. The newspaper article said that rescuers themselves got in to trouble or had to be rescued in their attempt to rescue Silva.
The reality is the park ranger responded immediately (there were 4 911 calls) and went up to the edge where the waves got his boots wet. He had a rope that was way too short to be useful. The rescue people drove up a few minutes later with a rigid inflatable boat on a trailer. They stopped in the road, blocked off all traffic (they love to do this), and said it was too rough to go out in the water and hung around by the road. When the current and the waves washed Silva up to the shore after some 10 minutes submerged, some of the older and seemingly more competent people in the crew ran down and if I remember right, attempted CPR.
There were some kids out there swimming in the waves with life jackets on earlier. I ran over there to see if I could borrow the life jacks but they had already left. It was too risky to go out there without a life jacket since someone who is drowning can pull you under. It was too risky anyway but usually if you swim toward the beach and ride the top of a wave it moves you a great distance toward the shore. They say swim at an angle but riding the wave tops seems to work well.
