{{Short description|New Zealand alternative media website}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2025}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=December 2025}} {{Infobox website | name = Centrist | logo = Centrist logo, Dec 2025.png | logo_size = 200px | logocaption = | screenshot = | screenshot_size = | collapsible = | collapsetext = | caption = | url = {{URL|https://centrist.nz/}} | commercial = Yes | type = News, alternative media | registration = Optional | language = English | content_license = | owner = Jim Grenon (until 2023), Tameem Adam Abdul-majeed Barakat | author = | launch_date = {{launch date and age|2023}} | revenue = | current_status = Online | footnotes = }} '''''Centrist''''' is an alternative news platform that was launched in 2023 by Canadian-New Zealand billionaire Jim Grenon.<ref name="Business Desk 1 Sep 2023">{{cite news |last1=Dunkley |first1=Daniel |last2=McNabb |first2=Denise |title=The curious case of NZ News Essentials: the buyout baron, the rapper, and the anti-mandate influencer |url=https://businessdesk.co.nz/article/media/the-curious-case-of-nz-news-essentials-the-buyout-baron-the-rapper-and-the-anti-mandate-influencer |access-date=7 March 2025 |work=Business Desk |date=1 September 2023 |url-status=live |archive-date=2 March 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250302225410/https://businessdesk.co.nz/article/media/the-curious-case-of-nz-news-essentials-the-buyout-baron-the-rapper-and-the-anti-mandate-influencer}}</ref> Its stated goal is to provide links and summarise content from various independent, alternative and mainstream media sources.<ref name="About us">{{cite web |title=About us |url=https://centrist.nz/about-us/ |website=Centrist |access-date=8 December 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250712225940/https://centrist.nz/about-us/ |archive-date=12 July 2025}}</ref> ''NZ News Essential'' (NZNE), another alternative media website launched by Grenon, was a sister website of the ''Centrist'' until the former was integrated as a weekly summary newsletter called ''Centrist Exclusives'' (or ''CE'') in August 2024.<ref name="NZNE 17 Aug 2024">{{cite web |title=Changes coming to NZ News Essentials |url=https://centrist.nz/changes-coming-to-nz-news-essentials/ |website=The Centrist |access-date=23 June 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250217014934/https://centrist.nz/changes-coming-to-nz-news-essentials/ |archive-date=17 February 2025 |date=17 August 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref>
==Coverage and editorial standpoint== The ''Centrist'' is a self-described news aggregator that summarises, curates and distributes media content including news reports, opinion columns and blogs.<ref name="Centrist 21 Apr 2025">{{cite web |title=The Press gets curious about Centrist – but doesn’t quite hit the mark |url=https://centrist.nz/the-press-gets-curious-about-centrist-but-misses-the-mark/ |website=Centrist Exclusives |access-date=10 December 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250519104920/https://centrist.nz/the-press-gets-curious-about-centrist-but-misses-the-mark/ |archive-date=19 May 2025 |date=21 April 2025 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Mitchell 29 Mar 2025">{{cite news |last1=Mitchell |first1=Charlie |title=Decoding the rightward lean of the ‘Centrist’ |url=https://www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/360622167/decoding-rightward-lean-centrist |access-date=10 December 2025 |work=The Press |date=29 March 2025}}</ref><ref name="Murphy 3 Mar 2025">{{cite news |last1=Murphy |first1=Tim |title=The Herald gets a new tone, and a wealthy alt-media investor |url=https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/03/03/the-herald-gets-a-new-tone-and-a-wealthy-alt-media-investor/ |access-date=12 June 2025 |work=Newsroom |date=3 March 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250406090629/https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/03/03/the-herald-gets-a-new-tone-and-a-wealthy-alt-media-investor/ |archive-date=6 April 2025 |url-status=live}}</ref> Its stated goals have included informing New Zealanders about the "big issues" facing them, "distilling" a broad range of media sources, providing "critical thinking" original content, claiming to promote a "centrist" standpoint, and "strengthen power and democracy."<ref name="About us" /> The ''Centrist'' has claimed to "present under-served perspectives and reason-based analysis" that have been ignored or neglected by mainstream media.<ref name="Edmunds 6 Mar 2025">{{cite news |last1=Edmunds |first1=Susan |title=Union wary of Canadian billionaire Jim Grenon's NZ media influence |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/543974/union-wary-of-canadian-billionaire-jim-grenon-s-nz-media-influence |access-date=10 December 2025 |work=RNZ |date=6 March 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250929234919/https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/543974/union-wary-of-canadian-billionaire-jim-grenon-s-nz-media-influence |archive-date=29 September 2025 |url-status=live}}</ref>
The ''Centrist'' has taken right-wing editorial standpoints; publishing articles criticising tax reform, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes, rent controls, the World Economic Forum, the Sixth Labour Government and left wing parties.<ref name="Business Desk 1 Sep 2023" /> It has also focused on controversial issues such as transgender rights, the Treaty of Waitangi and vaccine injury and efficacy.<ref name="Edmunds 6 Mar 2025" /> The ''Centrist'' has also republished content from conservative figures and groups such as Bob McCoskrie of Family First New Zealand, Avi Yemini of Rebel News and Cameron Slater's BFD website.<ref name="Business Desk 1 Sep 2023" /> The platform has also expressed climate skepticism, contending that climate activists were promoting emissions schemes that would cripple New Zealand's agricultural sector while allegedly making zero impact on global methane levels.<ref name="Mitchell 29 Mar 2025" />
Stuff journalist Charlie Mitchell, Auckland University of Technology (AUT) head of journalism Greg Treadwell and AUT researcher Danielle Selman Julian have described the ''Centrist'' along with ''The Platform'' and Reality Check Radio as part of a wave of "anti-establishment media" that emerged in New Zealand during the post-COVID-19 period as a "backlash" against traditional media coverage of cultural and political issues.<ref name="Mitchell 29 Mar 2025" /><ref>{{cite report |last1=Hope |first1=Wayne |last2=Baker |first2=Sarah |last3=Daniels |first3=Rachel |last4=Hoar |first4=Peter |last5=McEwan |first5=R. |last6=Myllylahti |first6=Merja |last7=Mountfort |first7=Paul |last8=Middleton |first8=Akatohu |last9=Selman Julian |first9=Daniella |last10=Treadwell |first10=Greg |last11=Watts |first11=Thomas |date=2025 |title=JMAD Aotearoa New Zealand media ownership report 2025 |url=https://www.jmadresearch.com/_files/ugd/a95e86_c7b513a0fbc547979e19cc57fdc3908c.pdf |publisher=AUT Research Centre for Journalism Media and Democracy |pages=100-102 |access-date=11 December 2025}}</ref>
==History== After the Canadian billionaire Jim Grenon immigrated to New Zealand in 2012, he registered a company called JTG3 Ltd in 21 October 2016.<ref name="Business Desk 1 Sep 2023" /><ref name="Companies Register">{{cite web |title=THE CENTRIST LIMITED (6139791) Registered |url=https://app.companiesoffice.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/6139791 |website=Companies Register |publisher=Companies Office |access-date=8 December 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250404092921/https://app.companiesoffice.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/6139791 |archive-date=4 April 2025 |url-status=live}}</ref> In March 2023, JTG3 Ltd was renamed The Centrist Ltd. Grenon was the ''Centrist''{{'s}} sole shareholder and director until 27 June and 2 August 2023, when he was succeeded by Tameem Adam Abdul-majeed Barakat, a fellow Canadian emigrant.<ref name="Business Desk 1 Sep 2023" /><ref name="McIlraith 6 Mar 2025">{{cite news |last1=McIlraith |first1=Brianna |title=Who is James Grenon? The billionaire who spent $9m on a stake in NZME |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/360601099/who-james-grenon-billionaire-who-spent-9m-stake-nzme |access-date=12 June 2025 |work=Stuff |date=6 March 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250404122900/https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/360601099/who-james-grenon-billionaire-who-spent-9m-stake-nzme |archive-date=4 April 2025 |url-status=live}}</ref> Grenon launched the ''Centrist'' in 2023 in response to the NZME-owned ''The New Zealand Herald'' and ''Business Desk''{{'s}} alleged editorial imbalance on co-governance, climate science, the New Zealand government response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Three Waters reform programme and Inland Revenue Department's high net worth project.<ref>{{cite web |title=NZ Herald links "Threat from Outer Space" to NZ News Essentials – Part 1 |url=https://centrist.nz/nz-herald-links-threat-from-outer-space-to-nz-news-essentials-part-1/ |website=The Centrist |access-date=12 June 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250430043007/https://centrist.nz/nz-herald-links-threat-from-outer-space-to-nz-news-essentials-part-1/ |archive-date=30 April 2025 |date=11 September 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Murphy 3 Mar 2025" /><ref>{{cite news |last1=Donnell |first1=Hayden |last2=Peacock |first2=Colin |title=Mediawatch: Anxiety over editorial policy and a billionaire on board at NZME |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/544218/mediawatch-anxiety-over-editorial-policy-and-a-billionaire-on-board-at-nzme |access-date=10 December 2025 |work=RNZ |date=9 March 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250613062934/https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/544218/mediawatch-anxiety-over-editorial-policy-and-a-billionaire-on-board-at-nzme |archive-date=13 June 2025 |url-status=live}}</ref>
During the period leading up to the 2023 New Zealand general election on 14 October 2023, the ''Centrist'' spent NZ$100,000 on promoting several advertisements on Facebook and Instagram attacking Te Pāti Māori and the Labour Party while supporting the ACT, National and New Zealand First parties.<ref name="Mitchell 29 Mar 2025" />
On 17 August 2024 ''NZ News Essential'', a second media platform launched by Grenon and his associates Matthew Gray and Glenn James Arthur,<ref name="Business Desk 1 Sep 2023" /> merged with the ''Centrist'' and became an associated periodic online magazine called ''Centrist exclusives'' (or ''CE'').<ref name="NZNE 17 Aug 2024" />
The website has also financially supported certain stories and financed legal actions to combat perceived power abuses and censorship.<ref name="About us" /><ref name="Business Desk 1 Sep 2023" /> According to Stuff, the ''Centrist'' has supported influencer Chantelle Baker's defamation cases against ''The New Zealand Herald'' and The Disinformation Project researcher Kate Hannah, with the former settling with Baker for an undisclosed sum in late September 2024.<ref name="McIlraith 6 Mar 2025" /><ref name="Centrist 30 Sep 2024">{{cite web |title=Centrist backs Chantelle Baker in successful defamation battle |url=https://centrist.nz/centrist-backs-chantelle-baker-in-successful-defamation-battle/ |website=Centrist |access-date=13 June 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250216082332/https://centrist.nz/centrist-backs-chantelle-baker-in-successful-defamation-battle/ |archive-date=16 February 2025 |date=30 September 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 2025, the ''Centrist'' supported "Stop Co-Governance" founder Julian Batchelor's defamation lawsuit against public broadcaster TVNZ and disinformation researcher Sanjana Hattotuwa.<ref name="Centrist 30 Sep 2024" /><ref>{{cite web |last1=MacNanus |first1=Joel |title=Inside the weirdest trial of the year: Jim Grenon, Julian Bachelor and TVNZ|url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/media/19-12-2025/inside-the-weirdest-trial-of-the-year-jim-grenon-julian-batchelor-and-tvnz |access-date=20 December 2025 |work=The Spinoff |date=19 December 2025| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260227043345/https://thespinoff.co.nz/media/19-12-2025/inside-the-weirdest-trial-of-the-year-jim-grenon-julian-batchelor-and-tvnz |archive-date=27 February 2026|url-status=live}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{Official website|https://centrist.nz/}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Centrist (website), The}} Category:2023 establishments in New Zealand Category:Internet properties established in 2023 Category:2024 mergers and acquisitions Category:Mass media companies of New Zealand Category:New Zealand news websites Category:New Zealand political websites