i don't think what media says is scaring anyone away, it may make them dump but not make them go away. on the other hand the pumps and dumps that all these altcoins have will surely scare a lot of the investors away and push them towards bitcoin more. because everyone will eventually see that the altcoins which they were bag holding get dumped at some point but in the end they will see bitcoin is still rising despite all the drama that it has. which means they will eventually give altcoins up and go back to bitcoin only.
Disagree about people being scared aware from altcoins.
Let's not pretend that bitcoin is immune to pumps and dumps. Perhaps it's not always as common due to better liquidity, but it's hardly immune to dumps -- as we just witnessed with the Mt. Gox Whale.
And as btc goes, the market goes. Many altcoins rose at the same, or quite often higher rate than btc did during last year's rise. Sure, some really junky alts may get dumped to smithereens, but it's not like folks will rush back into btc only. There is hardly a reason to if some alts go up at an even higher rate.
I find it weird that you act like btc doesn't get pumped and dumped like any other coin. All it takes are larger whales.