Well, I don't think this is entirely true, though it is a pretty noticeable trend.

The problems in Ireland were pretty well ignored for a pretty long time.

We were ignoring Ukraine losing part of its territory to Russian-armed separatists for eight years. Yemen was more interesting, not that that got much coverage either.

We haven't had a refugee crisis in as affluent and "modern" a country as Ukraine in an area that isn't white, so it's hard to dissociate the racism from the civilizatism.

It's easier to be sympathetic to neighbors with similar customs than those from distant regions with dissimilar customs, and it's also easier to help them.

Our friends are excused, as are the enemies of our enemies, while we believe the worst of our enemies and the enemies of our friends, adding a layer of historical happenstance over everything. (Why are we allies with Saudi Arabia again?!)

All that said, there's still a lot of just plain racism left in people's attitudes including on major media sources. It's just even less crisp than you portray here.