Barry Soper is a conservative New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 political journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

, and has been featured regularly on radio

Radio

Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

 and television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 since the 1970s.

Currently, Soper's main role is political editor at Newstalk ZB

Newstalk ZB

Newstalk ZB is a nationwide New Zealand talk radio network operated by The Radio Network of New Zealand . It is available in almost every radio market in the country, and has news reporters based in many of them...

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

Prime Television New Zealand

Prime is the seventh national free-to-air television station in New Zealand. The station airs a mixed group of programmes, largely imported from Australia, the UK and the United States, as well as free-to-air rugby union, cricket and rugby league matches....

, Soper appears as the political editor for the TV network on its nightly broadcasts. He is also one of the 'You've Got Male' panellists on TV One's Good Morning

Good Morning (New Zealand show)

Good Morning is a New Zealand morning television magazine lifestyle show. It airs weekday mornings from 9am - 12pm on TV ONE. The show began in 1996 and is hosted by Jeanette Thomas and Rod Chesseman...

, one of the few presenters on the show who is permitted to appear on rival networks.

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 Peters

Winston Raymond Peters is a New Zealand politician and leader of New Zealand First, a political party he founded in 1993. Peters has had a turbulent political career since entering Parliament in 1978. He served as Minister of Maori Affairs in the Bolger National Party Government before being...

 to Washington, DC

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, where Peters singled out Soper for his alleged behaviour during the trip. Soper himself reported that Peters' own behaviour was outside what would reasonably be expected of a politician during an international visit.

He is based in Wellington, New Zealand, and recently married TVNZ reporter Heather Du Plessis-Allan.And has 5 children, Hugh, Henry, Alice, Hannah and kate.