Me parece que falta contexto, que fue exactamente lo que dijo el presidente? "lo puedes poner en palabras textuales"

Por otra parte y sin más contexto, me da la impresíón de que se habla del "amarillismo"
De acá proviene la expresión
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yellow_Kid

AMARILLISMO

También conocido en el ámbito periodístico como "periodismo de tinta roja", el amarillismo no goza de una buena reputación ni en el medio ni entre el público, ya que se lo considera una mala vía para desarrollar el periodismo,
http://www.lablaa.org/blaavirtual/ayudadetareas/periodismo/p...

Mi sugerencia.

Subject seems to be either an accident with many killed and wounded or some kind of act of war with the same result.

given the additional info

another option!

Without seeing the entire sentence and more context, I think that "(de) pacotilla" could be translated as cheap and the news could be either news, reporting, or journalism - one thing if he is complaining about the content; the other if he is directing his criticism at the media. If he goes on to talk about assasinations, etc. the bloddy, gory, etc. is already there.

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Note added at 1 day21 hrs (2010-07-07 17:20:08 GMT)
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Example: At a January 22 meeting of the Latin American Business Council (CEAL), the president blasted the industry of which he is part owner. "The newscasts in Panama don't report news, they make news on the basis of presenting us as an unsafe country that has a great number of thefts, hold-ups and murders, and this is something that's doing great damage to us," Martinelli complained. Later he amplified his remarks, saying that visiting foreign business leaders had commented to him about the sensationalist crime-oriented news shows, complaining that all the televised gore hurts our chances of foreign investment and disparaging the things that are done in the competition for ratings. http://www.thepanamanews.com/pn/v_16/issue_01/news_01.html
"Morbid" and "gory" are other adjectives used in the article but the translation of President Martinelli's words was "sensationalist" in this document.