Don't forget that framing things in ways that maximizes emotional response (fear, anger) increases views, which increases ad views, and directly contributes to their bottom line. They have direct incentive to increase anxiety and worry, so everything is couched in scary hypotheticals of varying often undisclosed amounts of credibility.
This is the primary reason I stopped consumimg news that doesn't directly relate to my interests. Eliminating news and advertisement from my life is the most liberating thing I've evr done.
But it's also useful - the preparations given for zombie apocalypse are actually pragmatic preparations that can help during severe weather, supply chain disruption, pandemic, etc.
I like to share the zombie article, in particular, because, while it's silly, the advice in it is reasonable and useful to almost anyone.