MEDIAWATCH: Jim Grenon’s NZ Herald attacks Chris Hipkins over vaccine advice
The New Zealand Herald’s latest attempt to weaponise Covid vaccine politics against Chris Hipkins looks less like journalism and more like culture war positioning. With billionaire Jim Grenon’s influence hanging over NZME’s editorial direction, this latest anti-vax framing feels like part of a wider far-right project to drag the 2026 election into grievance politics.
How Jim Grenon’s culture war politics are reshaping the NZ Herald
Surprise, surprise, the anti-vax NZ Herald under new alt-right Culture War Canadian Billionaire attacks Chippy over vaccine…
… alt-right Culture War Canadian Billionaire Jim Grenon has backed the far-right Hate blog, ‘The Centrist’ which has become a crucial clearing house for Toxic Right Wing Hate troll content that aligns with their anti-Trans, anti-Vax, anti-Māori editorial line.
He backed virulent anti-Māori racist Julian Batchelor…
How billionaire Jim Grenon became involved in a defamation case against TVNZ
…and he backed anti-vax lunatic Chantel Baker…
Chantelle Baker ordered to pay $100,000 bond ahead of defamation case against Stuff
…Grenon’s far-right culture war belief structure has compromised their editorial position to the point that even Sir Ian Taylor has cancelled his subscription to the Herald…
‘A question of trust’: Why I’m walking away from the NZ Herald
Today I cancelled my subscription to the New Zealand Herald.
I did not do this lightly, but I can no longer reconcile what I read in The Herald this week with the values I believe New Zealand stands for.
My decision comes in the wake of a recent court case involving rhetoric that has been found, by that court, to be racist. Those statements included:
…so the Herald is utterly compromised now towards Grenon’s far-right Culture War revenge fantasies.
Why the Herald’s vaccine framing matters in Election 2026
TDB has been pointing out how other journalists at NZ Herald promote Grenon’s culture war fantasies, so it is no surprise they are now attempting to frame Chippy over advice received regarding second vaccine shots for teenagers.
Firstly, we are talking tiny number of people impacted.
Winston is singing it up because he’s a right wing whero-neck anti-vaxxer who plays to this electorate by insinuating that Chippy is somehow part of a shadowy cabal of WHO technocrats trying to inject our babies with poison.
The need by the Herald to promote anti-vax hysterics is driven by Grenon’s well-known future war pandering.
NZ Herald is becoming Fox News in jandals
This will only get worse as we get closer to the election.
NZ Herald is now Fox News in jandals.
As Election 2026 draws closer, expect more of this imported grievance politics dressed up as news. The danger is not simply bad journalism — it is the deliberate manufacture of distrust, resentment and culture war panic for political gain.
We don’t need people like Grenon or Batchelor in our country one is Canadian and the other an Australian. They should go back to where they came from and take their bulshit with them. And any government that aligns themselves with these two men should not be permitted to be in our NZ government. With all the unecessary wars happening we don’t need foreigners like these two men coming here and causing racial disharmony.
We don’t need people like Grenon or Batchelor in our country one is Canadian and the other an Australian. They should go back to where they came from and take their bulshit with them. And any government that aligns themselves with these two men should not be permitted to be in our NZ government. With all the necessary wars happening we don’t need foreigners like these two men coming here and causing racial disharmony.