The Front Page: The Joseph Parker story that shows why NZ media needs better representation

Joseph Parker was elusive to those who didn't know how best to reach him. Photo / Photosport

Welcome to our new daily podcast, The Front Page, where senior journalist Damien Venuto goes behind the headlines to grill newsmakers and journalists on the big stories of the day. The Front Page will be released at 5am every weekday morning - offering you insights and context on the major issues and topics of interest. You can listen to The Front Page above, and find it on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Getting hold of heavyweight boxer Joseph Parker was easier said than done.

The Herald's Talanoa editor Vaimoana Tapaleao quickly realised that Parker didn't have the usual media contacts you'd expect of an up and coming sportsman on the road to stardom.

Speaking to the Front Page podcast, Tapaleao says she had spent days trying to get hold of Parker to no avail.

"I couldn't get through a media person and I didn't have any mutual friends," Tapaleao says.

"Anyway, I went downstairs and happened to talk to one of the Samoan guys downstairs, who's a security guard here at the Herald. I know him because we just talked all the time, because he's Samoan."

In a brief conversation, she mentioned the struggles she had reaching Parker. Little did she know that her friend downstairs would hold the key to solving that problem.

"He was like, oh yeah, I know Joe's dad. It's all good. Here's Dempsey's number. And that's how I got through to him."

It's a story that Tapaleao uses to answer the question of whether the Pasifika community is really hard to reach, as politicians and researchers so often like to suggest.

"I guess you could say they're hard to reach, but also just need to know how to reach the Pasifika community," says Tapaleao.

This anecdote cuts to the core of why the Herald has launched a new section called Talanoa, led by Tapaleao as editor, which will be dedicated to telling Pasifika stories that would otherwise not be told.

Tapaleao says that she hopes to see this play a role in breaking down the stereotypes that continue to define what it means to be Pasifika in New Zealand.

"I still get hate mail from people who have only had bad experiences or have only read about bad experiences when it comes to Māori and Pasifika," says Tapaleao.

"You just see the word South Auckland and just think it's bad. So I think sharing stories about what other people are doing in our community is definitely going to change that. And hopefully we can do that in Talanoa."

She wants Talanoa to become part of the cultural conversation in New Zealand.

"I just want it to grow. I want it to be something that people talk and know about. I don't want it to be something that we're just talking about around the time it launches. I want people to say: 'Ah, man, did you see that story in the Herald's Talanoa?'

"I want people to know about, talk about and share their stories with me."

The Front Page is a new daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, that will be available to listen to every weekday from 5am.

You can follow the podcast at nzherald.co.nz, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.