Reality Check Radio
Reality Check Radio (RCR) is a New Zealand internet radio station owned by right wing activist group Voices for Freedom (VFF). Notable hosts have included former ACT Party leader Rodney Hide, former TVNZ broadcaster Peter Williams and anti-vaccine influencer Chantelle Baker.[1][2] The station has promoted anti-woke, anti-transgender content, COVID-19 vaccine hesistancy, and climate change denial.[2][3] In April 2024, the station went off air due to financial problems, leading to a fundraising campaign led by host Williams.[4]
Content and programming
[edit]Notable RCR hosts include former ACT Party leader Rodney Hide, former TVNZ broadcaster Peter Williams, anti-vaccine influencer Chantelle Baker, former Radio New Zealand broadcaster Paul Brennan, VFF activist and local councillor Jaspreet Boparai, former Federated Farmers president Don Nicolson, alternative music content creator Tobias Tahi, knitter Maree Buschke, former Green Party candidate Natalie Cutler-Welsh,[1][2] Alistair Harding, right-wing blogger Cameron Slater, Maree Buscke and Tane Webster.[5]
Notable guests on RCR have included New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, NZ First MPs Shane Jones and Tanya Unkovich,[5] ACT Party leader David Seymour,[6] ACT MP Cameron Luxton,[5] anti-vaccination activist Dr Matt Shelton,[2] National Party ministers Mark Mitchell and Erica Stanford.[3] Reality Check Radio has promoted anti-woke, anti-transgender content, COVID-19 vaccine hesistancy, and climate change denial.[2]
History
[edit]In March 2023, Voices for Freedom launched an online radio station called Reality Check Radio.[1][2] The group's three leaders Deeks, Bland and Libby Jonson each own a 33.33% stake in the company, which was registered as NZ Media Ventures Limited.[7][2]
According to The Spinoff journalist Duncan Greive, Paul Brennan had previously helped establish Sean Plunket's online radio station The Platform while Rodney Hide had served as a guest on The Platform but had parted company after Plunket and Platform co-founder Wayne Wright Jr. shifted the station's focus away from covering COVID-19 vaccination issues.[1] Acoording to Stuff journalist Charlie Mitchell, Reality Check Radio's launch in March 2023 was greeted by animosity from some elements of the "truth and freedom movement." Counterspin Media's founder Kelvyn Alp posted on Telegram "big money behind the push to be mediocre without a real challenge to the establishment." Anti-vaccination activists Liz Gunn and Sue Grey criticised RCR for not covering their court case.[2]
In late February 2024, Reality Check Radio hosted Austrian far right activist Martin Sellner, who had communicated with and accepted a donation from Brenton Tarrant, who perpetrated the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings. During the interview, Sellner condemned Islam, assylum seekers and burqas. The RCR host described Sellner as a patriot who wanted to "preserve culture." Following the interview, advocacy group Fight Against Conspiracy Theories (FACT) spokesperson Stephen Judd criticised RCR for platforming extremist views and called on politicians to boycott the station. ACT leader David Seymour disagreed with FACT, saying that he talked to a "wide variety of media outlets, even niche ones like Stuff. Having a range of voices in the media can only be a good thing." He also called FACT a "left-wing lobby group."[3]
In early April 2024, The New Zealand Herald reported that Reality Check Radio had gone off air due to financial problems. Hosts Peter Williams and Rodney Hide fronted a 14 minute public relations video calling for donations to the support RCR's operations.[4][8] According to BusinessDesk, RCR had struggled to secure enough donations from listeners, with only one percent of listeners donating.[9] Rival The Platform co-founder Plunket questioned whether the donation was a marketing ploy and derided RCR as "rabbit hole radio," promoting Williams to accuse Plunket of jealousy motivated by competition. On 14 April, Voices for Freedom co-founder Alia Brand denied that the RCR donation drive was a publicity stunt during an interview with TVNZ's Q+A current affairs show.[8]
Despite going off-air, RCR hosts continued to publish videos and podcasts on the station's social media channels including conversations between hosts and podcast versions of their shows. On 17 April 2024, Reality Check Radio released a plan to shift towards a donor-funded model and set a goal of increasing its subscription base from 3,500 to 10,000 paying members. As part of "The Plan," RCR plans to introduce new features including talkback functionality, documentaries and a press gallery presence.[5] On 28 April, Reality Check Radio announced that it still needed NZ$480,000 to return to the airwaves. The station claimed that it had received thousands of messages of support, with some cancelling their Netflix, Sky and Spotify subscriptions to support RCR.[10]
In early June 2024, the Advertising Standards Authority ruled that a Reality Check Radio-sponsored advertisement in March 2024 unsubstantiated claims about COVID-19 vaccines, which breached the standards of the advertising code. The Authority ordered that the offending advertisement not to published again in its present form. In response, RCR co-founder Claire Deeks defended the accuracy of the advertisement and accused the Authority of acting like a "kangaroo court."[11]
Notes and references
[edit]- ^ a b c d Greive, Duncan (7 March 2023). "There's now Voices for Freedom online radio for people who find The Platform too woke". The Spinoff. Archived from the original on 7 March 2023. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Mitchell, Charlie (31 March 2023). "' RIP woke media': An examination of Voices for Freedom's web radio channel". Stuff. Archived from the original on 24 January 2024. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
- ^ a b c McConnell, Glenn (27 February 2024). "The fringe radio station that chats with ministers and conspiracy theorists alike". Studd. Archived from the original on 26 February 2024. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
- ^ a b Currie, Shayne (9 April 2024). "Fringe station Reality Check Radio off air – Peter Williams PR video calls for donations". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 10 April 2024. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
- ^ a b c d MacAnus, Joel (30 April 2024). "Reality Check Radio is still 'off-air'. But was it ever really at risk?". The Spinoff. Archived from the original on 30 April 2024. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
- ^ Mitchell, Charlie (13 May 2023). "David Seymour's interview on Voice for Freedom radio station is fascinating". Stuff. Archived from the original on 20 August 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
- ^ "Shareholdings". New Zealand Companies Office. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
- ^ a b "Fringe radio station says donation drive not a stunt". 1News. TVNZ. 14 April 2024. Archived from the original on 14 April 2024. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
- ^ "Reality Check Radio gets a reality check". BusinessDesk. 9 April 2024. Archived from the original on 9 April 2024. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
- ^ "Fringe station Reality Check Radio needs hundreds of thousands of dollars to get back on air". The New Zealand Herald. 28 April 2024. Archived from the original on 28 April 2024. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
- ^ Wilkinson, Jeremy (4 June 2024). "Advertising Standards Authority says Reality Check Radio's Covid advert had unsubstantiated claims". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 6 June 2024. Retrieved 10 July 2024.