Here's the thing.
This sort of thing has been going on since forever, but you've either had blindspots to the things you like or are accustomed to and haven't picked up on it, haven't had the wherewithal to pick up on it or have too much time on your hands and are consuming more media than you used to.
This sort of thing happens all over the goddamn place. How do you think memes and circlejerky shit get started? People like to popularize things and will follow along dutifully to try and get a piece of that proverbial pie.
Go back a few years with Stockwell Day. The collective media pretty much jumped all over him for his wetsuit photo op disaster. It was referenced everywhere and pretty much sunk his campaign.
Of course, that's just one piece of the news cycle and was one newsworthy story that may have gotten blown out of proportion.
But what about a 'big picture' topic, like euthanasia? Back in the 90s, this was a huge ass topic and you had assloads of stories talking about Dr. Kervorkian, Robert Latimer and Ramon Sampredo. This was in addition to popular media covering this topic (off the top of my head, I remember a Star Trek: TNG episode, several Law & Order episodes, SNL and the late night talk show circuit all taking aim at this subject.) It was inescapable.
Same thing for abortion. Huge hot button topic back in the 90s, with abortion clinics being bombed, snipers, huge debates going on and the same media coverage and entertainment covering this stuff.
Was it social conditioning? I don't think so. Attitudes on euthanasia have changed drastically since the 90s, despite the message being conveyed back then. Go watch the Star Trek episode 'Ethics' and see how quaint it is in its take on this issue.
On top of this, we're seeing a change in news media, on multiple levels. We're seeing differences in how news is delivered, how often we receive it, level of coverage, and the best approach to news reporting these days.
The problem is that no one has really figured out how to do it. Monetization is the big issue here and media outlets are still trying to figure out how to do their jobs while making money off of it. Some outlets, such as Huffington Post, are relying on outrage culture with a left wing bent, while other outlets, such as Breitbart or The Rebel, are relying on outrage culture with a right wing bent.
Others, such as the Washington Post or the Toronto Star, are taking a more moderate progressive approach in their coverage, while also taking more of a longform or investigative journalism approach to things. I know some people would take issue with characterizing the Star or the Post as being 'moderate', but while I do acknowledge that they are left-wing in political bent, they do tend to practice far more responsible journalism than, say, HuffPo.
Another example would be the Metro line of free dailies. Near as I can tell, they are really aggressively trying to market themselves towards the female demographic and are trying to go for serialized news reporting with multipart stories on issues. No idea if this is deliberate, but every time I have picked up a Metro there seems to be articles that focus heavily on that. Again, dailies are trying to figure out what works and what doesn't. If they can establish a really strong foothold on a particular demo, it'll make it easier for them to pitch to advertisers.
You're also falling into niche journalism which doesn't focus on bog-standard, 'traditional' journalism (City Hall meetings, civic reporting, crime desk, local sports team coverage) and is stuff that goes a little off the beaten path. This sort of stuff used to exist, in Rolling Stone or Wired or National Geographic or a whole host of other magazines, but Print Is Dying, as they like to say, and there is a far bigger platform and market Online, so you see the rise of sites like Vice. Again, this sort of stuff isn't new, but it's become far more popularized as you don't have to sell out $5-10 for numerous magazines. And, again, they're going to report on topical stuff, following what gets the most clicks/ad revenue/interest.
Finally, we're living in a time where south of the border race and race issues are a huge talking point, popularized both by activists and a sitting president who has tapped into it. As much as we Canadians like to pride ourselves on being uniquely Canadian and not like the Yanks, there is going to be a bit of cultural bleeding over into our own politics and media. It's inescapable.