It's not a single unified hive mind, just the incentives are aligned to make the most of fear mongering and make the least of educating the populace on the real meat of the issues at hand.
You're engaging in the same sort of "fearmongering" though, by lumping everything together as if they all have the same incentives and goals.
Depending on which part of "the media" you look at, you'll get very different takes on various issues, some with significantly more substance behind them than others.
