I don't think it's a distraction. I've noticed a pattern with the media where they like to condition the public to accept certain ideas by floating out trial balloons. If the public isn't ready yet and rejects it, they just wait and take a different tack later.

Like how acid rain was a big thing back in the day, then they went to global cooling, then global warming, now just climate change. Or all the new articles popping up about how we should be renting homes instead of owning them.