I first read about this in Reader's Digest in the 1980's or early 1990's. Yes I am annoyed by the fact that nobody gave a shit until a TV funnyman talked about it decades later, accompanied by a million Facebook posts of "why is it that only comedians talk about this!!!1" Contrary to popular opinion, this is the sign of a public that doesn't read, doesn't actually care about news, and isn't informed. John Oliver gets his story ideas from the news, it's all there if his fans cared to look.
I think it's really plain to see how even the most educated youth today think they're getting culture enough from TV series, documentaries, Facebook links and Wikipedia trips. Who ever reads a longform piece of good journalism or (gasp!) a book anymore? I guess the answer is those who are force-fed this ancient and boring medium by means of still being able to afford a citizenship-minded Liberal Arts degree that would otherwise implicate them in more debt than their projected lifetime employment value.
It's a phenomenon called publicity. Usually people concerned about an issue spend most of their effort towards generating it. Your comment reads to me as if you resent it, but I may be projecting.