There is a lot of poverty in the 3rd world. Sometimes documentaries are about the cultures that are more primitive. The developed areas of those countries are more familiar and not as interesting.
The Democrats portray Latin America as unsafe to get sympathy for people who want to emigrate to America, because of the political environment right now. The Republicans portray the third world as uncivilized to reinforce their idea that the people won’t be a cultural fit for America or Europe.
I might add that my friends who visit America from Europe right now, who love America, they have friends who won’t come to America right now because the media is all about gun violence, Trump deporting people, racist Americans, and they are afraid America is terribly dangerous and unwelcoming, which is ridiculous.
I’ve heard a lot of Europeans think America has many more black people that we do (not that it matters, I’m just talking about how countries are represented) they think Americans are stupid and happy, and some seem clueless about our national parks and how much undeveloped land we have in America. Vast open spaces.