Hierarchy of death

Hierarchy of death is a phrase used by journalists, social scientists, and academics to describe disproportionate amounts of media attention paid to various incidents of death around the world.

Definitions of the hierarchy of death vary but several themes remain consistent in terms of media coverage: domestic deaths trump foreign deaths, deaths in the developed world trump deaths in the developing world, deaths of whites trump deaths of darker skinned people, and deaths in ongoing conflicts garner relatively little media attention.

British media commentator Roy Greenslade has been credited with coining the term while writing on the newsworthiness of those who died during The Troubles. Greenslade continues to critique the phenomenon including media reactions to the Boston Marathon bombings.

Scottish journalist Allan Massie also writes frequently on the topic.

The hierarchy of death has been compared to missing white woman syndrome.

The "bus plunge" newspaper story: a short filler reporting deaths in a remote country used only if a small space on the page needs to be filled.

Claud Cockburn claimed to have won a "dullest newspaper headline" competition while a sub-editor for The Times with "Small Earthquake in Chile. Not many dead".

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