Negative news gets clicks, so becomes more common. The result: Pervasive pessimism disconnected from reality. Many believe the economy is terrible (even when it's not) and are certain this is the worst time in history to live (when in many ways it's the best time).
New paper: An analysis of news coverage between 1850 and 2020 finds that the news "has become increasingly negative across all states in the past half century."
Economic sentiment has plunged since 2000. Non-econ news sentiment has steadily declined since 1980.