There was plenty of condemnation of New Zealand’s illegal occupation of Parliament in the media at first — but this week some media painted a much more palatable picture of the protesters and their motivation.

However, those who track the far-right and the media channels they use warn that ignores and obscures the protest’s dark undercurrents.

When the convoy converged on Parliament last week, Newshub vox-popped Wellingtonians who called the protest “ridiculous and disruptive”.

Offshore, Al Jazeera’s headline quoted residents who called the protesters “‘stupid’ and ‘selfish’”.

Many in the media were at pains to point out the protesters were not just a minority, but a mere fraction of the anti-vax element.

There was also sympathy for the police being confronted by angry and aggressive crowds — and public anger about children being there, even through a record-breaking wet southerly blast and the Speaker’s sprinkler stunt last weekend.

Media highlighted unpleasant conditions
And as the occupation dragged on, media highlighted increasingly unpleasant conditions underfoot.

“The [police] superintendent described the situation as squalor,” TVNZ’s 1News viewers were told last Monday.

“He said there’s faeces on the ground and children are playing in the mud.”

That amplified calls for the convoy crowd to stop blocking the streets — and the drains.

But Newstalk ZB’s political editor Barry Soper told listeners the poo problem was a fiction.

“There’s no faeces anywhere. They’ve got portaloos down there,” he said.

Soper went on to tell ZB’s Drive host Heather du Plessis-Allan the protesters were not as bad as they had been painted.

“They’re Kiwis. A lot of them have been mandated out of their jobs,” Soper said.

‘Do they have a point?’
“Do they have a point?” du Plessis-Allan asked rhetorically.

“Yes they have a point. They insist this is an anti-mandate protest and reporters on the ground say this appears to be the case. Now don’t confuse anti-mandate with anti-vax,” she warned listeners.

In fact, many reporters on the ground stressed that vaccine misinformation seemed near-universal among the occupiers — and amplification of irrational rhetoric, nooses, calls to “hang em high” and Nuremberg imagery were plain to see.

On the same ZB show soon after, NZME head of business Fran O’Sullivan said it was time to engage with them — even though there were no publicly-acknowledged leaders or mainstream political backers at that point.

“Not all people on that lawn are crazy. There’s a lot of people who are pretty ordinary folk who for one or another reason find themselves out of jobs,” she said.

Several commentators declared they were impressed by the pop-up infrustructure and support for what had earlier been described in the media as a leaderless and random occupation.

ZB’s Mike Hosking told listeners of his show the convoy deserved credit.

“I admire people who want to give up a lot of time and travel and hunker down and presumably get some sort of sense of personal accomplishment,” he said.

‘Too many nutters’
That’s quite a shift from the previous Friday, when Hosking dismissed the occupation as a waste of time with “too many nutters, and too many angry people”.

“Didn’t work. Protests make a point — but this one just pissed everyone off,” he said.

Back in 2019, he condemned those occupying Ihumātao as time-wasters too.

“Is it time in lieu you think they’re taking or annual leave they’re taking?” he said.

Politics lecturer and pundit Dr Bryce Edwards told ZB aggression at the protest had evaporated. He described protesters as merely “eccentric”.

The same day Edwards also told RNZ’s Morning Report the protesters had been unfairly smeared as “far right” — even though far right material and broadcasts were still clearly present at the protest.

“Bryce is quite wrong to gloss over the far right influence,” countered another commentator on Morning Report, academic Morgan Godfery.

Known far-right figures were among the first setting up and attending fresh occupation protests in Christchurch.

Watching their channels
Byron C Clark, who researches New Zealand’s far-right and conspiracy theory scene, told Mediawatch that reporters and commentators declaring the protest peaceful and reasonable were ignoring some of its dark undercurrents.

“If you want a full picture, you need to be engaging with people on the ground but also be in the social media channels and watch their own media,” he said.

Extreme and sometimes violent messages are still being posted on apps like Telegram, and media channels like Counterspin, he said.

“They are talking to people who are saying different things to what they say to mainstream media journalists.”

TVNZ’s Cushla Norman also confronted Counterspin frontman Kelvyn Alp orchestrating the coverage outside Parliament last week. In a story that aired on 1News on Thursday TVNZ’s Kristin Hall found messages in stark conflict with the peaceful vibe many of the protesters were projecting publicly.

Protesters have been asking me all week for “evidence” of volatility towards the Wellington public so here it is. https://t.co/mhJNcXlMrF

— Kristin Hall (@kristinhallNZ) February 19, 2022

“The Nuremburg 2.0 trials have started, why is no one reporting on that? You know, that’s the crimes against humanity and treason,” one protester told her.

Hall also pointed to Counterspin’s Kelvyn Alp telling ACT leader David Seymour he was “lucky they haven’t strung [him] up from the nearest bloody lamppost” after offering to mediate.

Common alt-right messages
Clark said those kinds of messages were common in parts of the movement.

“It’s not the case that everyone at the protest is a committed member of the alt-right movement, but it’s certainly the case that the alt-right has a presence in this movement and is trying to influence the direction it takes,” he said.

‘“On Telegram we’ve got people calling for trials and executions of politicians. On Counterspin Media, the hosts are telling people to read the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. To not report on that almost seems like part of that disinformation at this point in time.”

Many protesters identified as liberal or progressive, while being increasingly influenced by extreme content, Clark said.

“You might be skeptical of vaccines for left-wing reasons. You might be distrustful of the pharmaceutical industry. Then when you go into these anti-vax groups online, you’re going to be experiencing conversations about other conspiracy theories, and people will be saying, ‘yes, the media is lying to you, not just about this but also about these other things’.”

“You’re going to be influenced by a lot of these ideas and even if you continue to call yourself a liberal or left-wing, if you’re going to these protests that are shaped by the far-right, are you part of a far-right movement without realising it? I think that’s the case with a lot of the protesters,” he said.

‘Research these fringe elements’
Clark said the convoy was the culmination of years of activity on social media channels like Telegram, where thousands of people were still being radicalised.

He urged reporters to follow his lead and infiltrate those channels, so at the least they are not surprised when another movement emerges.

“I think some of our newsrooms should be putting more resources into researching these groups. Researching these fringe elements. Because we should know after Christchurch in 2019, it doesn’t mean it’s not going to burst out into the real world,” he said.

“These thousands of people have all been chatting to each other on Telegram for months if not years — so this wasn’t something that nobody saw coming. But it’s something the media is struggling to come to terms with,” Clark told Mediawatch.

A New Zealand nurse has been referred to a professional conduct committee by the Nursing Council after posting threats online against medical professionals involved in the national covid-19 vaccine rollout.

Multiple agencies are investigating after the registered Dunedin nurse posted a video to social media “declaring war” against covid-19 vaccinators and calling medical professionals taking part in the vaccine rollout her “enemies”.

Under the pseudonym Lauren Hill, the nurse posted a message to an anti-vax group on social media app Telegram.

• READ MORE: Other NZ covid outbreak reports

In the video she said she was in a rage and called on the Prime Minister, the Covid-19 Response Minister and the Director-General of Health to “cease and desist” in the rollout of the vaccine to five to 11-year-olds.

RNZ can confirm the woman in the video is Dunedin nurse Lauren Bransgrove, who has been taking part in Voices for Freedom anti vax events in the southern city.

The Ministry of Health is aware of the matter and has said they were concerned.

Police, ACC and the Nursing Council are also aware of the post.

‘Resistance’ to monitor schools
In the message, Bransgrove called on fellow antivaxxers — referring to them as “the resistance” — to organise and prepare to monitor schools every day so they could attack vaccination buses when they turned up.

“We do everything we can to stand in the way of you injecting this poison into our children. We will rip the bribes from your hands, we will slash your tyres, and we will remove the poison from the truck. This is not inciting violence, this is inciting self-defence, especially for our youngest people,” she said during the two minute and 23 second long rant.

“So cease and desist now, because this is war. And to the doctors and nurses that are still allowing this to happen, that have seen what is happening in the hospitals and refuse to speak out, I do not consider you a colleague, I consider you an enemy.”

Medsafe is currently assessing an application to administer Pfizer’s covid-19 vaccine to children aged 5-11.

The vaccine would be one-third of the dose of that administered to those 12 and older, of which more than 7.8 million doses have been given in New Zealand.

The vaccine has been deemed safe and effective by the vast majority of experts, both in New Zealand and globally.

‘Long covid’ symptoms
While the risk of serious covid-19 infection is far lower among children, covid-19 has been one of the top 10 causes of death of children aged five-11 in the US over the past 12 months.

A large study of children in the UK aged 11-17 also found as many as one in seven might still show symptoms of the illness three months after infection, commonly known as “long covid”.

So far, millions of doses of the vaccine have been administered to children aged 5-11 in the US.

Medsafe says it has completed its initial assessment of the application and has received a response to its request for additional information from Pfizer.

It intends to make a decision regarding approval this month.

Bransgrove lists her occupation as a clinical advisor for ACC.

Before that she spent 15 years working as a nurse, including a role as a theatre nurse in a private hospital for seven years.

She completed her training through Otago Polytechnic.

Multiple agencies investigating
A Ministry of Health spokesperson confirmed multiple agencies were investigating the video and its contents.

“The Ministry of Health is very concerned about this and is looking into this as part of a multi-agency approach,” the spokesperson said.

Police also confirmed they were making inquiries into the matter.

The Nursing Council confirmed it had referred the matter to a professional conduct committee.

When a few thousand people marched onto Parliament grounds on November 9 with a mish-mash of gripes with government, Bransgrove took part in a similar but much smaller gathering in the Octagon in Dunedin.

Carrying a sign which read “Nurse of 20 years My Body/Choice”, she spoke to RNZ, but refused to provide her last name.

“I am a nurse who went to Otago Polytechnic, I spent many years in the operating theatre helping the people of New Zealand, I now work for a public agency which I will not name,” she told RNZ.

‘Many vaccine injuries’ claim
She went on to claim many vaccine injuries were being reported to ACC.

When asked how many vaccine injuries had been reported, she responded: “Well I don’t know exactly, but I know they’re being accepted”.

By November 27 ACC had received 1179 claims stemming from covid-19 vaccination treatment injuries.

Of those, 448 had been accepted and 260 declined with 471 yet to be decided.

Allergic reaction accounted for nearly half of the claims, with bruises and sprains the next most common injuries.

No deaths had been lodged with ACC.

To date Medsafe has said one death is likely linked to the covid-19 vaccine and has been referred to the coroner.

‘More going online’
When provided treatment injury numbers as these stood at the time, Bransgrove responded: “I don’t know the number but there’s a lot more going on online.”

“When you go on these groups online, because you can’t see any of this on the news because it is not reported, when you see real people with real injuries and real deaths, you’re going to have to start to wake up.

“This is not about health, this is about control, this is about totalitarianism,” she said.

She claimed she did not care if she lost her job as she believed she would look back on the time and find herself on the right side of history.

When asked why countries with high vaccination rates had low death rates from covid-19, she responded: “Tell me about Israel”.

At the time of the conversation, Israel’s daily case count was less than 10 percent of the peak of the delta outbreak (when 10,000 new cases were reported a day).

That decline in case numbers followed a successful and widespread booster programme in the country.

Israel now has a seven-day average of about 600 cases a day, while the average of daily deaths has been less than 10 since late October and now sits at about two deaths per day.

Many others ‘concerned’
Bransgrove told RNZ there were many others similarly concerned by the vaccine and terrified to speak out.

ACC moved this evening to distance itself from Bransgrove.

“We are urgently investigating this matter,” ACC chief executive Megan Main said in a statement.

“ACC in no way condones threats of violence under any circumstances.

“We have encouraged all of our staff to get vaccinated as the best measure to protect themselves and others against Covid-19. We have instituted a policy requiring all our staff to be vaccinated in order to be on any ACC site from 15 December.

“The opinions expressed in no way represent the views of ACC.”

Anti-vaccine posts removed
Bransgrove earlier told RNZ she worked from home five days a week and so would not be subject to the vaccination policy.

ACC would not comment on whether Bransgrove had been suspended.

Earlier today she removed anti-vaccine posts — including a threat against the Deputy Prime Minister — from her social media accounts.

Anti-vaccine group New Zealand Doctors Speaking Out with Science claimed it had the support of 105 doctors.

In contrast an open letter from doctors supporting covid-19 vaccination had more than 6500 signatures.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.