Yes, terrorism happens, as it occurred in Boston. That's dramatic and frightening — as is a mass murder, such as Newtown's Sandy Hook elementary school.

Then we have the man opening fire on police in Ohio with an AK-47, caught on police dashcam. Again, the video adds to the horror and terror.

And then we have continuing story of the women escaping a decade of captivity.

News, it seems, is much more like a CBS crime drama, such as "Criminal Minds" or "Numb3rs." Throw in Charles Ramsey, the black man who helped save them and gave funny interviews, it is a bit of "The Mentalist" or other shows with grim horror mixed with refreshing laughs.

Is it that we want our news to be more like our entertainment, putting into a context we relate to? Or is it that the news is more horrible? I'm thinking the former, as there have always been horrible stories, such a serial killer out west in the 1950s or the Michigan school bombing in the 1920s. And those were sensationalized, though mostly in print.

The continuous airing of highlights, set to music, adds to the drama. Producers want an emotional impact, but is that at the expense of being informative and putting events into perspective.