FACT Aotearoa Calls For Ministers To Boycott Outlets Promoting Extreme Racist Views – FACT Aotearoa

Ministers should boycott Reality Check Radio for promoting Austrian far right activist with links to Christchurch terrorist.

FACT Aotearoa is calling on Government Ministers including the Deputy Prime Minister who have appeared on Reality Check Radio to boycott the station.

Reality Check Radio is hosting Austrian far right wing extremist Martin Sellner who spearheads neo-fascist movement Identitarian Movement Austria. The outlet frequently promotes far right causes and conspiracy theories.

Sellner is appearing on a new Reality Check Radio show on Friday 23 February hosted by Dieuwe de Boer.

Sellner corresponded with the Christchurch mosque terrorist and accepted a donation from him.

Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Ministers Shane Jones, David Seymour, Casey Costello, Erica Stanford, Judith Collins and Mark Mitchell have appeared on the station’s shows. Costello appeared as recently as this week and Seymour last week.

FACT Aotearoa accepts that Ministers have a right to discuss Government policies wherever they can, but Reality Check Radio’s promotion of Martin Sellner crosses the line. Supporting Reality Check Radio disrespects the families of those who lost loved ones in the 19 March tragedy.

FACT Aotearoa in particular calls on Police Minister Mark Mitchell to take a stand and boycott the media outlet that is promoting someone whose warped racist theories motivated the Christchurch terrorist.

Ministers should be sending a strong message to Reality Check Radio that this is morally wrong and they will no longer accept invitations to appear.

If they fail to do the right thing then Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should pull his Ministers into line and tell them to stop supporting a media organisation that hosts someone with such dangerous, extremist and racist views, and one who is so clearly connected to the Christchurch terrorist.

Notes

Reality Check Radio is the online media outlet of Voices For Freedom, which was prominent during the occupation of Parliament in 2022. Their goal is for Reality Check Radio to be an entry-level introduction into their conspiracist belief system.

The “Identitarian” movement promotes the superiority of European ethnic group and the Great Replacement Theory, a racist theory that white races are being replaced by non-white peoples—especially from Muslim-majority countries—through mass migration and demographic growth, at the behest of complicit elites.

FACT Aotearoa (Fight Against Conspiracy Theories) is a grassroots group of activists fighting harmful conspiracy theories and disinformation in New Zealand started in 2020. Our members include health professionals, academics, lawyers, teachers, students, and more who volunteer their time to minimise the impact of harmful misinformation.