Right, here’s a question I’d like to answer: Do we all have strange priorities in this country, or is it just the evening TV news that does?

Last night, I sat through 13 minutes of TV One telling me nothing had happened with the cyclone before we finally got to the Iran situation, where something actually had happened.

First, One News took us to a reporter in the Bay of Plenty, who told us a tree had come down on the main street. A couple of older women joked about going for a swim in the swell, but really, nothing much had happened.

Then we went to Gisborne, where wastewater had flooded, and the guy in the caravan from the previous night was barely affected - because, again, nothing much had happened.

Next stop was Hawke’s Bay, where nothing had happened yet.

Then the Coromandel, where Simon Mercer reported large storm surges in Whitianga - but nothing had happened.
After that, the Far North, where the river was high - but nothing had happened.

Then the weather presenter wrapped it all up, and we were told Breakfast would be covering it in the morning - just in case something did happen.

Finally - after 12 minutes and 45 seconds of this - we got to the Iran situation, where peace talks had broken down and the US delegation had left.

That is a conflict that will affect every single one of us.

The weather will impact some people - potentially quite severely - but the situation in Iran will affect everyone here.

Diesel is tipped to hit $4 a litre, food prices will rise, inflation is forecast to peak higher than after COVID at around 7.5 percent, and ANZ is predicting three OCR hikes this year as a result.

I wondered whether this reflects audience interest - maybe people can’t get enough of the weather and don’t care about a conflict in Iran.

But I checked the Herald this afternoon. Both stories were top trending, and there wasn’t much between them.

So, I’d suggest the evening TV news might want to rethink leading with 13 minutes of nothing. I understand that pictures matter in television. And yes, they’ve paid to send reporters around the country, so they need something to show.

But pictures of nothing are still nothing - and there’s only so much time people will spend watching nothing before they simply switch off.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Does our news just have the wrong priorities?