I think this is a direct effect of how large the media portray an event to be. MH17 was a much larger &#x27;event&#x27; in the media than the Russian plane crash recently (probably due to a bomb placed by IS). The number of casualties were roughly equal.<p>So I don&#x27;t think it has as much to do with the event itself rather than with the degree to which the media put it on the front burner and what the nationalities of those involved are. A rule of thumb seems to be that the further east something happens relative to Greenwich the smaller the font will be. Ditto South of Spain. To the media some lives are fairly clearly more valuable than others.