How journalism works part 324

The poor girl who died in a sledging accident had 15 GCSEs, was bound for Cambridge or Oxford, and was 'beautiful, witty, intelligent and popular'. Obviously winter is a good time for this story - in May the same papers trumpeting this fact will be proclaiming the decline in exam standards. 

More importantly: are they implying that the death of somebody with fewer/poorer GCSEs, ugly, ignorant, humourless and unpopular (me, for instance) is somehow less appalling? That the parents of someone with 10, or 5, passes will console themselves with the thought that at least no great potential was lost? 'Don't cry dear, he was a fat, misanthropic loser, bound to end up on the dole. We should be glad he's gone, really'. 

Can't we just be sad that someone died, whatever they were like and wherever they were going?