In L.A. they stopped showing car chases on the news because instances of car chases (that is to say, people fleeing police) rose dramatically when they became common on news channels.

There’s been some indication (and no, I don’t have a link) that instances of child abductions have not increased, only the coverage of them has. Like the shark attacks last year (which killed five fewer people than those that died from skiing accidents in Colorado in 2001), the coverage itself makes it seem like it’s a bigger problem than it really is.

But sharks don’t get ideas (or even a weird kind of encouragement) from seeing the other sharks attacking people. People do. When my wife tells me that one of her coworker’s daughters was the target of an attempted abduction this afternoon, in a neighborhood that’s not known for loud teenagers let alone crime, I start to think about copycats.

I start to wonder if the news services are really helping.

On the one hand, the news stories encourage parents to be especially careful and talk to their kids.

On the other, would they have to be as careful, if the rate of abductions weren't rising, influenced by the coverage? (Not saying they are, but as a what if.)

I suspect the true numbers are, and will remain. low enough that trying to detect serious trends in it (let alone assign blame to those trends) will be difficult to impossible.

Which doesn't mean that parents shouldn't be careful, shouldn't talk to their kids, shouldn't act responsibly. Just that we should distract ourselves from more serious problems out there.