“Q: How do journalists count? A: One, two, trend.” (joke)

A popular journalism joke is, “Q: How do journalists count? A: One, two, trend.” The joke implies that all it takes is three examples for a journalist to declare a “trend” and to write an article about it.
 
“Journalists are taught to count, ‘One, two, trend’” has been cited in print since at least 2005.
 
     
Google Books
Your Name in Print:
A teen’s guide to publishing for fun, profit, and academic success
By Elizabeth Harper and Timothy Harper
New York, NY: St. Martin’s Griffin
2005
Pg. 26:
Journalists are taught to count, “One, two, trend.”
   
Seed magazine
The staff of Seed is pleased to present our awards for 2005’s science-related movies.
Originally published March 2, 2006
(...)
And you know what they say in journalism: “One, two, trend…”
 
Columbia Journalism Review 
Campaign Desk, The Audit, The Kicker— June 13, 2008 11:32 AM
Big Fish, Low Rates
By Clint Hendler
(...) 
As the journalism joke goes, “One, two, trend…”
   
Rex Hammock’s RexBlog.com 
A journalist counting trend story from tomorrow’s Wall Street Journal
Posted on Monday, October 5, 2009 by Rex Hammock
Over the weekend, PaidContent.org’s Staci Kramer passed along a joke via Twitter she heard at the Online News Association awards:
 
How does a journalist count?
“One, two, Trend!”
 
Big Fat Finance Blog
Why Your Board Wants Compliance Stories
Eric Krell January 19th, 2012
I’ve been talking to risk management, compliance and internal auditing experts this month to get a feel for how they expect their realms to evolve during the next 12 to 18 months. I’ve heard some interesting ideas. I’ve also heard the same interesting idea repeated more than once; and, as the saying goes, “here’s how journalists (or bloggers) count to three: one, two, trend.”
     
Adweek
April 28 2012
A Look Back at a Week’s Worth of Programming News
Bones won’t be buried, dance with yourself until you Yahoo
By Sam Thielman
(...)
Here’s an old joke: Q. How do journalists count? A. One, two, trend.