[Clutch Munny]

There's certainly been an epidemic of "true crime" television shows and books since the early '80s.

Joel Best's More Damned Lies and Statistics begins with a 2001 quote from Dan Rather, that school shootings in America were "an epidemic". Best consults data that show that the average number of violent deaths at schools per year had declined consistently over the previous ten years. The real epidemic was in the reportage, with every incident becoming national news as the big cable companies realized they could make a buck off the fear and anger of the credulous.