Yes, there is always a tendency on the part of local media to look for a local slant to every news item. This was satirized a LONG time ago by the National Lampoon Sunday Newspaper Parody. The top headline was "Earthquake Destroys Japan!" The sub-headline was, "Local Couple Cancels Vacation." (Or words to that effect.)

In the US, this is probably a bigger problem than in the UK. Any time there is a big national or international story -- the Florida vote recount, the Olympics, a major party convention, the O J Simpson trial, for example -- HUNDREDS of reporters and film crews go there to cover it, all looking for a local slant -- e.g. the Minnesota reporters seek out the ONE Minnesotan who was tangentially involved, to interview him, and so on. Then they say they can't really do investigative journalism because it's too expensive.