Barry Soper (born ) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

political

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

, and has been featured regularly on

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

and

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

since the 1970s.

Early life

Soper is from

Gore Gore may refer to: Places Australia * Gore, Queensland * Gore Creek (New South Wales) * Gore Island (Queensland) Canada * Gore, Nova Scotia, a rural community * Gore, Quebec, a township municipality * Gore Bay, Ontario, a township on Manitouli ...

. In 1969, after finishing high school he attended the

Royal New Zealand Police College The Royal New Zealand Police College (RNZPC) is the central training institution for police recruits and police officers in New Zealand. It is located at Papakowhai, approximately 2 km north of Porirua City. Recruits at the college underg ...

at Trentham for six months before he withdrew from studying. Soper returned to Gore, and started to work for ''

The Southland Times ''The Southland Times'' is the regional daily paper for Southland, including Invercargill, and neighbouring parts of Otago, in New Zealand. It is now owned by media business Stuff Ltd, formerly the New Zealand division of Fairfax Media. History ...

''.

Career

After working at ''The Southland Times'', Soper worked for a number of media organisations: '' Mataura Ensign'', ''

Otago Daily Times The ''Otago Daily Times'' (ODT) is a newspaper published by Allied Press Ltd in Dunedin, New Zealand. The ''ODT'' is one of the country's four main daily newspapers, serving the southern South Island with a circulation of around 26,000 and a c ...

'', ''

New Zealand Truth ''New Zealand Truth'' was a tabloid newspaper published weekly in New Zealand from 1905 to 2013. History ''New Zealand Truth'' was founded in 1905 by Australian John Norton in Wellington, as a New Zealand edition of his Sydney ''Truth'', aim ...

'', and the ''

Waikato Times The ''Waikato Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Hamilton, New Zealand and owned by media business Stuff Ltd. It has a circulation to the greater Waikato region and became a tabloid paper in 2018. The newspaper has won the title of Ne ...

''. Following this, he worked for the

New Zealand Wool Board The New Zealand Wool Board was established in 1944 under the Wool Industry Act.Julian Roche, p180, ''The International Wool Trade'', Woodhead Publishing, Cambridge, England, 1995 McKinsey & Company published a report in 2000 that sparked two ye ...

as a speech-writer. Soper joined the Parliamentary Press Gallery in 1980 working for APN, before moving to

Newstalk ZB Newstalk ZB is a nationwide New Zealand talk radio, talk-radio network operated by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, NZME Radio. It is available in almost every media market, radio market area in New Zealand, and has news reporters based in m ...

, where he currently works. Soper covered both the

1987 Fijian coups d'état The Fijian coups d'état of 1987 resulted in the overthrow of the elected government of Fijian Prime Minister Timoci Bavadra, the deposition of Elizabeth II as Queen of Fiji, and in the declaration of a republic. The first coup d'état, in wh ...

, and the 2000 Fijian coups d'état, securing the first international interview with

George Speight George Speight (born 1957) is a Fijian businessman and politician who was the leader of the 2000 Fijian coup d'état, in which he and rebel soldiers from Fiji's Counter Revolutionary Warfare Unit seized the Fijian Parliament and held Prime Ministe ...

. He was approached to stand for the Labour Party at the

1992 Wellington Central by-election The 1992 Wellington Central by-election was a by-election held in the electorate during the 43rd New Zealand Parliament, on 12 December 1992. It was caused by the resignation of incumbent MP Fran Wilde after her election as mayor of Wellington ...

, but rejected the offer to do so. Soper covered Nelson Mandela's inauguration in 1994. In 2001, Soper was named Individual Radio Journalist of the Year at the Radio Awards. Soper himself made the news in July 2006 during the visit of Foreign Minister

Winston Peters Winston Raymond Peters (born 11 April 1945) is a New Zealand politician serving as the leader of New Zealand First since its foundation in 1993. Peters served as the 13th deputy prime minister of New Zealand from 1996 to 1998 and 2017 to 2020 ...

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

, where Peters singled out Soper from a group of journalists who questioned Peters during the trip. Soper reported that Peters' own behaviour was outside what would reasonably be expected of a politician during an international visit. Previously, he was also one of the "You've Got Male" panellists on TV One's ''

Good Morning "Good morning" is a common greeting in the English language. It may also refer to: Television * ''Good Morning!!!'' (Australian show), a children's show * ''Good Morning'' (New Zealand show), a daytime talk show * ''Good Morning'' (Russian ...

.'' Currently, Soper's main role is political editor at

, a radio network in New Zealand. Through its agreement with

Prime Television Prime7, formerly Prime Television and other names, was an Australian television network. Prime Television launched on 17 March 1962 as '' CBN-8'' in Orange, and later expanded to cover regional New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capi ...

, he appears as the political editor for the TV network on its nightly broadcasts.

Personal life

Soper married journalist Heather Du Plessis-Allan in 2009. In October 2021 Du Plessis-Allan announced she was pregnant. The baby boy was born on 26 February 2022. Soper has five children from his two previous marriages. His daughter Alice Soper is a rugby player, television analyst, and kids' television show host. On 28 July 2017, Soper's son Henry was stabbed during an argument at a bar in Courtenay Place. Months later, his younger son Hugh was severely injured after falling down a steep bank on a walking track near

Karori Karori is a suburb located at the western edge of the urban area of Wellington, New Zealand, 4 km from the city centre and is one of New Zealand's most populous suburbs, with a population of in History Origins The name ''Karori'' used ...

. In 2021, Hugh was convicted of assault for a 2019 attack on two Wellington bar owners. In 2010, Soper was fined and disqualified from driving for six months for drink-driving.

References

1951 births Living people New Zealand journalists New Zealand television presenters New Zealand radio journalists New Zealand radio presenters New Zealand television journalists People from Gore, New Zealand Newstalk ZB People educated at Royal New Zealand Police College {{NewZealand-writer-stub

Early life

Career

Personal life

See also

References