How a simple donation of $1242 bought a far-right demagogue plenty of air time in NZ.
In May, Patrick Gower of TV3’s Newshub started a series of investigations into the ideological background of the alleged Christchurch killer. He started off with a melodramatic and self-pitying mea culpa where he admitted to have completely ignored the existence of a far-right movement in NZ. Like most journalists, politicians or SIS spies.
Gower then produced three moderately interesting reports about various neo-Nazi groups and individuals, including Philip Arps who has recently been convicted for distributing the alleged killer’s video.
After a pause of a few weeks, Gower continued on Monday, 1 July 2019, with an instalment reporting links between the Austrian Identitarian Movement and the NZ far right. He showed a video of a group in Christchurch protesting against the signing of the UN Migration Compact, during which Winston Peters was called a traitor who should be hanged. One person, Philip Arps, made throat-cutting gestures.