MEDIAWATCH: Alt-Right Billionaire Grenon the same danger as Trump

Fascinating insight from the Better Public Media AGM over the weekend where former Herald Editor Gavin Ellis spoke at length regarding the attempted take over of NZME by alt-Right Canadian Billionaire, Jim Grenon.

The point Gavin made was that within NZ News media the cultural convention inside the NZ Fourth Estate was a clear demarcation of power between the Editor’s Independence and the  Owners interests.

He could not recall a moment in NZ Fourth Estate History whereby an Owner was attempting the level of editorial control that Grenon is attempting to take.

I argue that Grenon represents a unique threat to NZ Democracy because what he as a radicalised culture war Billionaire could do to the largest media platform in NZ will have enormous damage to society.

Look.

NZME is already a hard right media platform.

From Radio Hauraki for private school boys to ZB Capitalist Mythology, NZME is as right wing as it gets, but within that paradigm, 2 plus 2 is always going to equal 4, from Mike Hosking Breakfast to Heath Duplicity Allen, they espouse their right wing nonsense from a reasoning landscape that acknowledges 2+2=4.

That is NOT the case with the anti-vaccine, anti-global warming, anti-Māori, anti-Treaty, anti-Trans alt-Right, indeed in alt-Right land (which is situated next to MAGAstan and Qanon Island), 2+2=4 whatever the fuck alt-Right claim it to equal.

Now.

Pundits and market analysts have rubbished my concerns that Grenon represents a unique threat to our Fourth Estate by arguing that an owner would never make those types of sudden editorial hardiness because they would face a reader boycott and advertisers would walk away and that would ultimately see the share market value slump.

Those pundits and market analysts claim no owner would be that counter productive to their own interests.

My counter to their rubbishing of my concerns is that Grenon may want the share price to tank so that he could buy up even more of NZME to cement into place his radical editorial agenda.

Gavin revealed that Grenon spent a mere $9million for his shareholding position which is chump change to a billionaire.

I argue again that Grenon is not in this as a Vulture Capitalist wanting to make a quick pay day for the shareholders by selling off OneRoof, I argue he has a far deeper and more radical alt-Right culture war editorial agenda that is far more destabilising to society than Covid has been.

Gavin Ellis tells the Better Public Media AGM that the only time as Editor of the Herald he had any editorial direction from Wilson + Horton was when he was asked to never justify violence as a political tool and as a personal favour to Nelson Mandela, promote generic AIDs drugs for Africa.

Gavin points out that only convention has ensured the owner never compromised editorial independence and that an Owner with a very different editorial direction could easily ignore those conventions.

I think Grenon is exactly like Trump, in that he won’t care about conventions and just use the raw power ownership grants him.

Before he gains that power, he has to trick the board into believing he has no radical culture war editorial agenda.

We will see in June when the Board meets whether he’s managed that trick.

I think Grenon is the biggest threat the Fourth Estate has ever faced in this country.

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