Often we hear about something that is bad on the news....it may be a) criminal b) unfortunate c) systemic (like unequal economics and predjudice)

and it moves us to want to do something or come up with an answer for these......but to what end?
What can we possibly do to address these things?

Has news turned us into wanting to intervene in something that we wouldn't normally have a stake in? (it might be worthwhile if our interest could actually improve the outcomes for people in the future, or now....but that is not the case)
And in frustration people who are affected by the information they hear, often formulate theories or back things that is the best fit for their anger....this often supplies raw materials (polls and such) for those who do actively lead anger and blame arguments.

Now I've never studied media and journalism, but I bet a lot of you have, so I guess you've all discussed this before, so let me ask the dumb question 'what is the benefit and how does it measure up against the drawbacks, of reporting unpleasentness?'