i am wondering if numbers of crimes against children are increasing at
the same rate as news stories covering them are rising--particularly
2000-2005.

Hi,
Maybe this is carping about a point of symantics, but since any crime
(and some cases that are later dismissed) are probably mentioned in
several papers and probably more than once in the most local ones, the
number of articles will increase by a factor X relative to the
incidents reported.

If you are asking about the influence of the media in perhaps
increasing such crimes, the responses to this question discuss the
matter from various points of view:

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=510674