Who writes the jokes?

I can't believe it, not a full day has gone by and already there are jokes about Amy Winehouse and her premature death.
I am in two minds about these jokes despite how twisted they are. For some reason they seem to catch me off guard and then I laugh. It was really pertinent when the space shuttle Challenger blew up and someone had worked out a joke fitting the letters of NASA in the 80's. Then I realise that despite the connection to these bits of news being via the Internet or the television and that it is so easy to look on in a detached manner, we are talking, joking about real people. Amy is someone's daughter and despite her mistakes and her demise, she is still flesh and blood, one of us, are we starting to dehumanise our feelings?

But what I want to know is who is the person or persons who come up with the jokes? When I was a kid there was no Internet and yet these jokes went round with the ferocity of a viral marketing campaign! It is now worse with the social network platforms.
Thankfully good things fly around too, and I hope for less sick jokes and perhaps more comments that seek to enhance life and not dehumanise it.