metacycles

I've been struggling to place where I have seen this funerary media circus surrounding Peter Jennings' death before.

I think the best comparison, albeit a loose one, is the death of Di.  Sure that event took on ridiculous overtones, but Jennings' death has similar overtones of the media losing one of its own, combined with that earnest outpouring of public grief from the many that themselves only knew him through the focussed lens of the media.

And to those who would say "Lo Siento Mucho, I hardly knew thee" - please shut up.