I used to do that a lot until it just wore me down. Now I go to Fox News for my negativity. Ha. But seriously, I would watch endless movies about people trapped, abused or dealing with addictions. I'd seek out stories in the news that dealt with animal cruelty or sex trafficking. I think it's because (for whatever reason) those things - animal abuse, domestic violence, rape, etc - wounds our empathy deeply. And we try to find relief in its exposure, the attention it gets, so that the problem gets addressed. Or maybe we see something in these issues that touches us in a way we've yet to understand, so we seek them out trying to connect the dots as to why it means something to us.
If you don't mind me asking, have you experienced any of the things you obsess over? Or someone close to you?