@article{Robie_2022, title={FRONTLINE 1: New Zealand’s 23-day Parliament siege: QAnon and how social media disinformation manufactured an ‘alternate reality’}, volume={28}, url={https://ojs.aut.ac.nz/pacific-journalism-review/article/view/1265}, DOI={10.24135/pjr.v28i1and2.1265}, abstractNote={<p>Fires burned across Aotearoa New Zealand’s Parliament grounds, and violent clashes broke out between protesters and police on the day the law enforcement officers moved to quell a 23-day anti-vaccination mandate siege of the House in February-March 2022 in scenes rarely witnessed in this country. &nbsp;The riot climaxed a mounting campaign &nbsp;of disinformation and hate speech on social media fuelled by conspiracy theorist New Zealand activist media such as <em>Counterspin, </em>which emulated their counterparts in the United States. Vitriolic death threats against political leaders and attacks on journalists and the media on an unprecedented scale were a feature of the protests. Anti-government messages were imported alongside white supremacist ideologies. Researchers have described the events as a ‘tectonic shift’ that will have a significant and lasting impact on Aotearoa New Zealand’s democratic institutions This article introduces three perspectives about the protests and disinformation ecology framed in the journal’s reflexive series <em>Frontline</em>.</p&gt;}, number={1 & 2}, journal={Pacific Journalism Review : Te Koakoa}, author={Robie, David}, year={2022}, month={Jul.}, pages={105-113} }