Billionaire and Red Bull CEO Dietrich Mateschitz has just announced he will create a right-wing news organization that will have an international scope.
In the interview for an Austrian newspaper Klein Zeutung, he criticized both Austria and Germany’s lackluster rules on refugees, railed against political correctness like forced multiculturalism, and expressed his support for President Donald Trump. His new media platform will be called Näher an die Wahrheit which translates to “Closer to the Truth.” It will research right wing topics to give an independent perspective in the international mainstream news media. In a public relations interview to The FADER, a representative for Red Bull stated, “Our company values freedom of mind and encourages open conversation.”
Over the past two decades, Red Bull has evolved into much more than an energy drink company. The company has held the electronic music-focused Red Bull Music Academy event series annually since 1998 and has hosted a plethora of marketing events focused on “giving people wings” to follow their dreams. Mateschitz has also created the “Wings for Life” foundation that supports spinal cord research.
While this new platform for populist right wing news internationally will be a breath of fresh air for conservatives, an article published in the German business newspaper Handelsblatt, compared Red Bull’s proposed populist platform to Breitbart and has already generated controversy in Europe despite being in the development stage. The left-wing media in Europe consider businessmen like Mateschitz to be threats to the European Union just like French Presidential candidate Marine Le Pen and Nigel Farage in the United Kingdom.
This is a developing story and more details will be reported as the “Closer to Truth” multimedia platform gets the greenlight in the near future.
