I heard a story the other day.  A bloke says, “My wife asked me what I wanted for my tea and when I replied, she told me I was wrong”.  Now while that scenario may have a basis in fact somewhere around the world, it seems to me to be symptomatic of an attitude: that some men feel hard done by in the treatment they receive from their spouses.  I have no desire to delve into the murky subject of domestic disagreement or, worse, violence so I want to be clear this has nothing to do with that dreadful subject.

I made the mistake one morning last week of switching on the TV to see the news and encountered, for one of the first times, a phenomenon called breakfast television.  It was all very deliberate – I pressed the top left numerical key on the remote, as is my custom, and entered a strange world of make believe.  Jack Tame, who I have seen reporting from America, was sitting on a couch with a reject from the other major channel and they were discoursing at great length and in minute detail about the break up of a celebrity couple in Hollywood.  Suspecting it was only a break out piece, I made myself a cuppa and returned to the TV in time for the news only to be met with a headline about the marital split again.  In disgust I walked to the bedroom where the final touches were being applied to coiffure and make up by the one remaining wage-earning person in our household only to find that She was listening to the radio news and guess what they were announcing?  Really?  Who cares?

It has been pointed out to me subsequently that an entity known in the frivolous circles as ‘Brangelina’ is a big deal on the world stage so the break up is newsworthy for that reason alone but I find it difficult to reconcile the attention such happenings receive when there are wars, earthquakes, bombings and terrorist atrocities, human suffering and starvation in the world, not to mention disease, pestilence and plague.  I’m not for a moment saying those are the only things worthy of reporting but I am saying the coverage given to one marriage breakup seemed disproportionately large at the time.  It brought into focus the growing trend of media organisations attempting to be ‘relevant’ to a younger market and the strategies now employed to attract that market.

Oh, and by the way, PS: I’m not averse to some good news stories such as the ‘Good Sorts’ section at the end of TV One’s Sunday evening news show.  Hayden Jones finds some inspirational characters to feature in this time slot and I try not to miss it.  If you want a sample go to www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/good-sorts