Well, think about it this way...
People die every single day. Not a day goes by without a newsworthy death appearing somewhere in the media. Do you really expect the media to portray each story with a completely sorrowful tone? Death is business as usual to the media, and that's how it is in the natural world as well. Did these journalists know the deceased personally? Perhaps, but the chance is extraordinarily slim, and even if they did, did the person above them who gave them the assignment? Probably not. News is supposed to be impartial and unbiased (too bad it never is, really). Actually, what happens nowadays is the really big, gruesome, or "omg what a beauty to have her life cut short" types of stories get oversensationalized all to hell. Would you really want the memory of your lost loved ones to be one of martyrdom? So really, by them NOT sensationalizing the story and telling it straight, just the facts, it's doing both your family and your memories a huge favor.
When my ex-fiancee died in 2003, it was in the newspaper but not on television, and it certainly wasn't overblown like some of the crap we all get to see from time to time (seems like it happens now more than ever though). And for that, I was quite glad...her memory isn't tainted by a buttload of fluff and pity-mongering...just the facts as we knew them. That's the way it should be.