Investigate (New Zealand)

Investigate

The cover of the October 2006 issue of Investigate.
Editor	Ian Wishart
Categories	Newsmagazine
Frequency	Monthly
Circulation	8,278
First issue	January 2000
Final issue	June 2015 (print)
Company	Howling at the Moon Publishing Limited
Country	New Zealand
Language	English
Website	www.investigatemagazine.com

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 Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand 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.

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.

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, 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 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.