''Investigate'' was a current affairs magazine published in New Zealand. It had a
conservative Christian editorial standpoint and published a number of controversial articles. Many of the more notable articles were critical of policies and members of the
centre-left
Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The ...
Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand
The Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 10 December 1999 to 19 November 2008. Labour Party leader Helen Clark negotiated a coalition with Jim Anderton, leader of the Alliance Party. While undertakin ...
which governed from December 1999 until November 2008. It was edited by
Ian Wishart. New
New Zealand First MP
Richard Prosser used to write a column called Eyes Right in the magazine, and his book ''Uncommon Dissent'' has been heavily promoted by the group. In June 2015, ''Investigate'' ceased print publication and announced that it would become a solely online publication; citing declining circulation and sales at supermarkets.
History
''Investigate'' magazine was established by Ian Wishart and his wife Heidi in January 2000. The first issue was published in February 2000. In 2011, ''Investigate'' magazine underwent a radical redesign into a "HIS/HER" format with content being divided into separate male and female sections. This redesign received mixed responses from its readership base.
Agent Orange production in New Plymouth
In October 2000, ''Investigate'' published a story of alleged chemical contamination in
New Plymouth by the
Dow Chemical Company's local subsidiary, which had produced the
herbicides 2,4,5-T and
2,4-D at their factory in the city. In January 2001 ''Investigate'' then published an interview with a former senior executive of the chemical company who confirmed not only that the two herbicides had been mixed to produce the defoliant
Agent Orange for Britain's use in the
Malayan Emergency and the U.S. use in the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
, but also that surplus drums of the toxic substance had been buried on nearby land now covered by a housing subdivision.
The magazine then obtained a file kept by a former senior hospital matron in the 1960s and 70s, documenting dozens of bizarre
birth defects
A birth defect, also known as a congenital disorder, is an abnormal condition that is present at birth regardless of its cause. Birth defects may result in disabilities that may be physical, intellectual, or developmental. The disabilities can ...
in local children often associated with
dioxin poisoning. The magazine published those pictures in its April 2001 issue. A
Ministry of Health report in 2004 found increased levels of dioxin in the blood of long-term residents of the area, but with no clear indication that this had increased rates of disease. A larger study in 2008 of former workers in the Dow factory showed low levels of dioxin in their blood and no link between dioxin and health issues.
John Tamihere Interview
The 4 April 2005 issue of ''Investigate'' contains an interview with then Labour MP
John Tamihere
John Henry Tamihere (born 8 February 1959) is a New Zealand politician, media personality, and political commentator. He was member of Parliament from 1999 to 2005, including serving as a Cabinet minister in the Labour Party from August 2002 to ...
. In the article Tamihere makes a number of allegations, including accusing Prime Minister
Helen Clark
Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...
of being unable to deal with
emotions
Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. There is currently no scientific consensus on a definition. ...
, that Labour deliberately lost the
1993 General Election, and that it is "very dangerous" to be in the Labour Party if "you're a free and independent spirit". He also is recorded as making insulting remarks about
Michael Cullen,
Steve Maharey, the gay MPs of the Labour Party, and about women in leadership generally.
Alleged links with the Exclusive Brethren
Former Prime Minister
Helen Clark
Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...
claimed that rumours about her husband's sexuality reported by ''Investigate'' were connected to the
Exclusive Brethren
The Exclusive Brethren are a subset of the Christian evangelical movement generally described as the Plymouth Brethren. They are distinguished from the Open Brethren from whom they separated in 1848.
The Exclusive Brethren are now divided i ...
, after members of the church hired a private investigator, Wayne Idour, to follow Labour MPs and their spouses, and a letter to the editor from a member of the church was published in the Dominion Post referring obliquely to allegations published by ''Investigate''. Idour is one of the sources for ''Investigates May 2007 story about police corruption.
Wishart responded by calling Labour's allegations a "baseless conspiracy theory", and said he had previously accounted for all his investigations into Labour MPs, and the Exclusive Brethren had not contributed in any way. "I wouldn't know an Exclusive Brethren person if I fell over one," he said.
''Preachers of Hate''
The March 2007 issue contains an article entitled ''Preachers of hate'', alleging that
Islamic terrorists have infiltrated
New Zealand's Muslim community. The article was condemned as "negative stereotyping" in an open letter penned by political activist
Grant Morgan and signed by well over a hundred New Zealanders, including many academic, religious and community leaders. A follow-up article alleged that some of the signatories had not actually read the magazine article, despite signing the letter condemning it.
Richard Prosser's 'Wogistan' article
Prosser has written the 'Eyes Right' column in ''
Investigate'' magazine for 10 years.
In his February 2013 column, Prosser stated; "If you are a young male, aged between say about 19 and about 35, and you're a Muslim, or you look like a Muslim, or you come from a Muslim country, then you are not welcome to travel on any of the West's airlines." Prosser further stated that the rights of New Zealanders' were being "denigrated by a sorry pack of misogynist troglodytes from Wogistan, threatening our way of life and security of travel in the name of their stone age religion, its barbaric attitudes towards women, democracy, and individual choice". Prosser wrote that "Abdul" should not be allowed to fly, and should instead "go ride a camel". It subsequently emerged that Prosser's column was written after a pocket-knife he was carrying had been confiscated by airport security. NZ First leader
Winston Peters
Winston Raymond Peters (born 11 April 1945) is a New Zealand politician serving as the leader of New Zealand First since its foundation in 1993. Peters served as the 13th deputy prime minister of New Zealand from 1996 to 1998 and 2017 to 2020, ...
initially said that he would not apologise for Prosser's conduct, that he had been writing in his capacity as a columnist, as opposed to an MP, that Prosser stood by his statements, and that he had spoken to Prosser about the article as the article "lacked balance".
Subsequently, Prosser came under criticism from the Government and Opposition parties for the content of his article. Prosser stated that his intention had been to draw attention to the issue of passenger profiling at airports, and stated that his writing style was intentionally one of a "shock jock". He initially refused to apologise, but later admitted his article lacked balance, apologising for the offence that he had caused. He stated he would not continue to write for ''Investigate''.
Press Council complaints
The
New Zealand Press Council has made two rulings concerning ''Investigate''. The first, in 2001, concerned a complaint by the Immunisation Advisory Centre about two stories on
vaccine safety. The complaint was not upheld, and the council noted that "Campaigning magazines such as Investigate aim to jolt readers into looking at things differently, and use hard-hitting tactics. It was unfair of the magazine to headline Dr Sinclair’s response to Simon Jones article: gutter journalism scares parents: health authorities, implying she had used that derogatory term in her response. However, the Press Council does not think that, taken overall, the Investigate articles go beyond what is acceptable in this adversary style of journalism." The second upheld complaints by
Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand Limited () is the flag carrier airline of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 20 domestic and 30 international destinations in 18 countries, primarily around and within the Pacif ...
about an article in the September 2007 issue of Investigate magazine headlined on the cover: "Exclusive. Air NZ’s secret flights. Why our state-owned airline is flying US troops into war". The Press Council criticised the lack of opportunity Air New Zealand had to respond to Investigate's allegations, saying "The editor conceded and apologised for one mistake, and sought to minimise others. Those mistakes, however, would likely have been amended or at least challenged had the magazine referred its story to the airline. The editor’s explanation for not doing so reveals a regrettable lack of faith in Air New Zealand that serves neither journalism nor the airline well. Good journalism demands fairness and the editor’s allegation that taking such a step would have led to his scoop effectively being sabotaged is disturbing."
Shift to online publication
In June 2015, ''Investigate'' editor Ian Wishart announced in the magazine's June/July 2015 editorial, entitled "The famous final Scene", that the magazine would be ceasing all print publication. The editorial cited several factors including plummeting circulations (13,500 in its heyday to 8,278 copies in early 2015), declining magazine sales in
supermarkets, and a shift towards online advertising in the wake of the
Global Financial Crisis
Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003
* ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007
* ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989
* ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015
* Bruno ...
of 2008. The magazine's management had also toyed and ultimately rejected a plan to increase the price from NZ$8.60 to NZ$15.90. Due to high traffic on its website (averaging two million pageviews a month), ''Investigate'' magazine had decided to shift all operations online. Besides the website, ''Investigate'' magazine also operates
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
and
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
accounts.
However, the website is now only sporadically updated and seems to be little more than an aggregator website for news stories from more mainstream news websites. ''Investigate'' appears to have shifted to a new website called "InvestigateDaily"
See also
*''
Behind the Exclusive Brethren''
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Investigate (Magazine)
2000 establishments in New Zealand
2015 disestablishments in New Zealand
Christian magazines
Conservatism in New Zealand
Conservative magazines
Defunct magazines published in New Zealand
Magazines established in 2000
Magazines disestablished in 2015
News magazines published in New Zealand
Monthly magazines published in New Zealand