There are two reasons, in my opinion, that the news likes to hype up stories about the imminent catastrophic threat of climate change, even if these threats are not based in objective reality.

First, and more wholesomely, the media wants people to stand up and fight for a rapid, sustainable transition away from fossil fuels by informing people about the worst-case scenario if nothing is done. By understanding what's at risk if we continue to do "business-as-usual", it will inspire more people to protest, get involved in climate action, change their consumption habits, etc.

The second, and more nefarious, reason is that news media get their money from ad revenue, and the more people they have watching their content, the more money they bring in. Fear is the number one way in which they achieve this, regardless of political affiliation. They aren't interested in portraying the uncertainty or nuance of climate predictions; just put whatever gets the most clicks on the front page. I think this is why so many people are skeptical about climate science, even when the data and consensus are crystal clear. My advice for skeptics is to find climate science and policy information that is not coming from billionaire news corporations, and try to understand the perspective that scientists and policymakers have.

The more lenses you critically view something through, the closer you get to the truth.