Is this really news?

Growing up I had quite a few dogs. Almost every one of them died a horrific death by car. So, I understand the trauma that can be caused to a person/family when their dog dies in such a way. It's very sad and it's very personal. Yet for some reason the death of the Governor of Washington's dog (free registration required, use admin@cteens.org for the email address and password for the password) has become news worthy (it even has it's own video clip). I think that this is a horrible, horrible thing - it's even horrible that I'm mentioning it here. It seems that the press could lay off her and her family while they grieve over the death of their dog. But I suppose this is easier for the residents of Washington to deal with than thinking about how the Seahawks choked in the Superbowl.