1) Selective reporting means only the very worst or most interesting things get reported. That means - for the most part - the 99.9999% of the population that doesn't deserve to be removed from the gene-pool with chlorine isn't mentioned. This gives the impression that whatever trait you're monitoring in the news is much more prevalent than it actually is. Further factor in that most news agencies are awful things, run by terrible people who purposefully attempt to mislead and/or sensationalise their stories; I'm look at you The Sun (UK) and ABFox (USA).

2) Greater media exposure and people having high quality media-capture devices on them at all times ensures that incidences of stupidity are more likely to be reported now than ever before. In the 60s, you'd need a special reason to have a camcorder, ensuring most random stuff wasn't caught. Now the majority of the population has a HD camcorder in their back pocket, in the form of a mobile. Retards beware, you're being watched, and will end up on YouTube. People have always been stupid. You're just seeing more of it now.