Legend has it that a newspaper in north-east Scotland, the Aberdeen Press & Journal, carried the headline “North-east man dies at sea" following the Titanic tragedy.

The newspaper has been lampooned for this alleged excessive display of parochialism ever since. 

Never mind that it didn’t happen. In fact, the newspaper’s headline that day was: “Mid Atlantic Disaster. Titanic Sunk By Iceberg. 1,683 lives lost; 675 saved. Liners race to rescue”.

Reporters now claim the legend was borne out of a news bill days after the tragedy, which said, “Titanic latest; NE man dead”.

However, New Zealand media’s insistence on finding the “local” in everything remains firmly rooted in reality.

Last weekend’s decision by The Sunday Star-Times’ to feature on the front page the plight of former All Black Frank Bunce represents a case in point.

Poor Frank was trapped in a hotel room during the unrest in Cairo – unwittingly caught up in the drama while filming for a travel programme.

It is a reflection of the parochialism of the New Zealand media that the newspaper zeroed in on the predicament of an All Black rather than analyse one of the most significant events in Egypt in decades.

Newspapers in the US and UK rightly devoted significant column inches on their front pages to the demonstrations in the country.

However, the sad reality is that rugby and celebrities rule the roost in New Zealand media. 

A bustling centre who played 55 tests in the black jersey is more than a match for the emotive scenes in the Egyptian Capital when it comes to deciding the news agenda.