Spreading alarm has become a sideline for the mainstream press. If it isn't inciting fear of Russians, Ukrainians or other assorted malefactors messing with our elections and supposedly recruiting republicans to carry out their misdeeds (democrats are never under suspicion by virtue of their party affiliation), then it's whipping up dread of disease.
The sorriest part of this equation is watching the gullible portion of the public darting hither and yon to hoard household goods as if they're soon to be extinct. Or is it how the media has purposefully manipulated the Trump administration into playing a role in the pandemic panic?