One event

I am almost ready to make a rule. If the media talks about one event, than it probably means the statistics are such that similar events have become rare enough to talk about, rather than the events becoming more common. For example, a few years back they really pushed talking about several young white girls kidnapped. Was it because kidnapping rates had increased? No, they were lower than they had been in years. The media could finally report all the stories that they would have been flooded with earlier. I have seen similar stories about church burnings, and school shootings among other things.

Another great example is teen pregnancy. The media has been flooded with reports from some high school where 17 girls got pregnant. A sign of social decay? No. A sign teen pregnancy rates are about the lowest they have ever been. Leaving the media with nothing left to do but try to pick out sensational events, rather than report about how much we have been improving. Two decades ago the story wouldn't have been unusual enough to report. 17 pregnancies at a 1200 person school is high, but not that high.