In my opinion, sensationalist media pretty much started back when Ted Turner invented the 24 hour news network we now know as CNN. They had to work hard to fill those 24 hours with something as boring as news, so they made it like watching sports matches, but the opposing team was conservatism.
Then Murdoch launched fox news which was the conservative answer, just as sensationalist but wacko in the other direction.
Now you have 50 different news stations battling it out to see who can stun and startle you the most and keep you glued to the screen.
The truth no longer matters.. what is a little exaggeration if it means more eyeballs on the screen. Just throw some misleading headlines out there; most people won't even read the details.
Who would have guessed 50 years ago that the news media itself would be actually creating our reality for us. Scary times, dude... It is impossible to know what is real anymore. We live in the movie Idiocracy at this point!
Anchorman 2 touches base on this and I've read that the precursor to 24 hour news was a show that I bet you remember called 60 minutes. The first kinda news kinda op-ed show ever. And people loved it.
Oh yeah, I didn't think about that. I remember 60 minutes being super dramatic when I was a kid. That ticking clock. Lol