The Platform – is it really ‘the resistance’?

Guest Writer.

Is The Platform really ‘the resistance’ to cancel-culture and the bastion of free speech its creator claims it is?

Sean Plunket, former TV3 news reporter, Fair Go reporter, Morning Report presenter, talkback host and Kiwi shock-jock – must be commended for what he’s created with The Platform. (www.theplatform.kiwi)

With sheer tenacity and the right (Wright) funding, Sean has put together a team of other disaffected MSM throwaways to create a vibrant podcast that broadcasts live to the nation online throughout the day. One way to promote his new venture before launch was to print t-shirts that proudly display the words, “Join The Resistance”.

We at Resistance Kiwi like ventures that in some way are part of the “resistance” and have urged many people to switch what they watch or listen to each morning and instead tune into The Platform.

If done right, Sean’s creation could become the real alternative to the mainstream media – the narrative from which hundreds of thousands of Kiwis are turning away in order to find actual news and views on things that truly matter in today’s current affairs environment.

The Platform has been going for a couple of months now, and has to some extent been that breath of fresh media air that many listeners are craving to hear.

But until recently, many people had begun to turn away. There’s something about it that just doesn’t work. Is it really “the resistance”?

Sure, as a presenter Sean can get frenetically loquacious on some issues, but equally can shut down views that he doesn’t agree with or want to hear.  He’s pretty good in his niche as a sort of acerbic attack dog. That sort of behaviour you’d expect with the mainstream media talkback outlets, but is it what you want in an online show that is trying not to be just another mainstream media talkback outlet?

What is the point in trying to be a better MSM in a market saturated with government-financed MSM broadcasters, and which the majority of the population is more than happy to consume? Perhaps The Platform needs to have a GB News moment?

For those who might not know, GB News is a newish UK free-to-air TV news channel that started in June 2021. It was initially headed-up by the former BBC News grandee Andrew Neil, who through some built-in inadequacy believed the key to success was to out BBC the BBC. It became apparent very quickly that people who wanted to watch and tune into GB News were exactly the type of people who didn’t want to watch the BBC.

Within a few months, Neil was out! He was moved on by the investors as they came to the realisation that Neil had missed the point, and the market. His obsession with the BBC was a distraction. The format chosen was staid and boring and despite all the pre-launch marketing hype, their news and opinion pieces were straight down the middle of the road.

They launched into a market that is over-served by mainstream news outlets, they had no point of difference and despite the efforts of some of the on-air talent, it wasn’t going anywhere. (To be fair, there’s nothing middle of the road in the BBC, it’s all woke and lefty! – Ed.)

The investors got in a new management team, added new faces on air and told the rest to take off their muzzles. Things are turning around, viewer numbers are increasing and more importantly advertisers are sticking around.

Management realised there is no point in going after the 70% of the British population that thinks “news equals BBC”. So they began to chase and reliably capture the 30% who were no longer watching the BBC.

Now, we’re not saying Sean should go. It’s his baby and he needs to see it through. But there does need to be a point of difference for people to tune in, and frankly exporting Michael Laws from MSM talkback to do exactly what he did on MSM talkback is not a point of difference. Laws is a know-it-all with the added disadvantage of being catastrophically conventional and mildly boring. Listening to him losing it as he fields calls from people he considers anti-vaxxers is mildly amusing, but mostly pathetic.

‘The 30%’ want a news platform that will listen and discuss things like the absurdity and inconsistencies of the pandemic response.

Likewise, Sean needs to understand – in a small market, flexibility is key and you can only insult and shout over people a couple of times before they feel disenfranchised and go elsewhere.

We could also say how tiresome it can be listening to Sean trying to bait some half-wit politician into another ‘gotcha’ moment.

The Platform is not going to have reliable access to the big fish political interviews because the listenership is just not there and he needs to realise that.  It’s all so conventional, MSM-lite!

So what do they have to lose? There’s no government funding for the show and they have a benign and patient benefactor who has deep pockets for something different.

Kiwis are interested in the antics of the inept Government and the equally useless so-called Opposition and The Platform needs to keep onto all that. But what of the 30% who aren’t captured by the government-sponsored news media and who are understandably angry about where our elected representatives have taken the country over the last two years and really want to talk about it.

Paul Brennan (who has taken a slot on the show while Sean recuperates at one our Club-Med type hospitals) went someway towards that with his interview with Dr. Matt Shelton, one of the heroes who stood his ground and is lighting the way forward on vax-reality, and it shows in the numbers.

‘The 30%’ want a news platform that will listen and discuss things like the absurdity and inconsistencies of the pandemic response.

About the glaring fact that it plainly hasn’t worked and people have suffered, the stories of vaccine injury and investigation with open minds, the politicisation of the response, the capturing of mainstream media and how our small country is going to pay for it all. That both major parties have been completely useless and in lockstep (what’s with that?).

Basically there’s a sizeable and growing sector of Kiwi society that wants to talk about the pandemic. It’s the biggest opportunity in recent history, and The Platform is ignoring it by sweeping it under the carpet.

How long can that be The Wright Stuff?

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UPDATE 23 JULY: In four days, the interview with Dr. Matt Shelton received over 100,000 views on The Platform’s Facebook page. Kinda illustrates our point.