why it stood out...
1) 24 hr news cycle accelerated in the 90s, we saw this evolution with CNN coverage of Baghdad being bombed, there was tons of hype around Columbine and it was never out of the news
2) politicized on all sides, left wingers wanted to use it to ban guns, right wingers wanted to use it to ban violent vidya and music
3) victims were rich white kids;
>As of the census[6] of 2000, there were 24,095 people, 8,656 households, and 6,933 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 3,629.6 people per square mile (1,401.1/km2). There were 8,800 housing units at an average density of 1,325.6 per square mile (511.7/km2). The racial makeup of the CDP was 94.82% White, 0.47% African American, 0.40% Native American, 1.16% Asian, 0.12% Pacific Islander, 1.57% from other races, and 1.46% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.58% of the population.
>The median income for a household in the CDP was $71,319, and the median income for a family was $77,866
whole place was full of white suburbanite drones who live insular and safe lives, this shattered that illusion and implemented a moral panic and finally
4) related to point 1 but distinct, the media needed a boogeyman to focus on, in the 90s this was the increasingly violent society that we were apparently liing in. See clinton's comments about 'Super Predators' for an example of this, there was a moral panic that by the 2010s society would be like A Clockwork Orange. I would argue this anxiety was manifested by the media for the purpose of keeping the population in fear, with the end of the Cold War there was no boogeyman to hang over peoples heads. In the 90s (((they))) tried to make it the people themselves (war on drugs is a precursor), but with the 9/11 false flag this was changed to the 'war on terror' which was way easier to market