"My heroes are broadcaster Richard Long, journalist Colin James, and reporter Ian Templeton. Now I am in the same circle as them, it's astonishing," says veteran journalist Richard Harman (Hamilton 1961-1965) of his recent New Year’s Honours appointment.

With more than 56 years of experience in journalism, Richard was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) in the 2026 New Year Honours for services to journalism and broadcasting. For Richard, the recognition feels like a validation. "With no journalists being named in the last number of years, it feels like a government nod and endorsement of serious journalism," he says.

Though Richard’s family has roots in Christchurch, including a great-grandfather who helped found Christ’s College and a family law firm dating back to 1850, his own path led him to St Paul’s Collegiate School. He remembers Headmaster Reg Hornsby (1963-1969), who had also moved from Christ’s College to lead the young Hamilton school.

Richard recalls Sunday evenings after Chapel, spent discussing current affairs at Mr Hornsby’s residence alongside English teacher Frances Blackburn (Staff 1964-1972). Reg Hornsby frequently used his personal networks to bring in guest speakers, including New Zealand Herald publisher Michael Horton. "It helped introduce us to a world beyond St Paul’s and it helped seed my interest in journalism," Richard says.

Despite its rough-and-ready beginnings, St Paul's produced remarkable students during the 1960s. From a current affairs class of just ten students, four became renowned doctors and two became journalists. "It was pretty shambolic back then," Richard laughs. "I'm sure the teachers made things up as they went. But I'm grateful for St Paul's. It sparked my interest in the world, and I made lifelong friends." 

After graduating, Richard initially headed to Auckland University to study architecture. However, he quickly got sidetracked by student publishing, writing for the student magazine Craccum. Recognising where his true passion lay, he pivoted to do a Bachelor of Arts before diving into agricultural reporting and news publishing.

It wasn't long before he joined the newly formed TV2, marking the beginning of a career in broadcasting. As a long-time political reporter for TVNZ in the Press Gallery from 1982 to 1994, Richard had a front-row seat to some of the most defining moments in modern New Zealand history, including the Rainbow Warrior bombing and the seismic political shift from Robert Muldoon to David Lange, the latter being the subject of his award-winning documentary, Five Days in July. "If you look at that period... it was an amazing time in New Zealand politics," he says.

Richard went on to found the production company Front Page, launching influential current affairs shows Agenda and The Nation. Beyond broadcasting, Richard is a former chairman and life member of the New Zealand Parliamentary Press Gallery. His academic credentials include an Oxford University Fellowship awarded by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Green Templeton College (1998) and a Master of International Relations from Victoria University.

Today, Richard is the managing editor of Politik, a highly regarded daily political newsletter and website frequently quoted by major national media outlets. "I am an old-school reporter," he says. "An old mate used to say to me, ‘Get it first and get it right.’ I am not widely interested in my own opinions. I still do what I did on day one of the job: I am nosy, I write down what people say, and then I join the dots together."

That knack for connecting dots still pays off. Recently, Richard was following Government proposals to sell off some Department of Conservation (DOC) land. When the Prime Minister suddenly cancelled his appearance at a function hosted by the Speaker to honour Richard’s award, Richard pieced the clues together and correctly deduced that the government was executing a major U-turn on the sale.

While he loves the work, he acknowledges the immense challenges facing modern journalism, noting that there are roughly 25% fewer journalists today than in the year 2000. He points to the economic strain on newsrooms and the rise of "desk journalism," where reporters rarely leave the office.

Then there is the battle against misinformation. Richard recalls covering the parliamentary anti-mandate protests during the Covid-19 pandemic, where he interviewed a man who claimed that getting vaccinated would cause a metal spoon to stick to and bend on his arm. "A mate's reply to me when I told him that story was, 'I don't think they are teaching enough science at school anymore, Richard!'"

Yet, Richard calls himself an optimist about the future of information. "The media is not dead; everything changes. The fundamental force that is always there is: So, what happened? How we deliver that in years to come is anyone's guess."

An unexpected message in the middle of nowhere brought the news of his ONZM, strangely connecting back to his school days.

"I remember being in French class at St Paul’s, the teacher was useless, but he used to tell us stories of his home country and life in Tanzania," Richard shares. "Last year, I finally had the opportunity to go to Tanzania. I was in the middle of nowhere with very little coverage. I managed to check my phone, and there was a message to call the Department of the Prime Minister. I thought, 'Oh no, who has written a complaint about me?' When I called, and they told me I was getting the gong, I was in complete astonishment."

Now in his seventies, Richard still brings energy to his work. On a recent trip back to his old stomping grounds for the Hamilton Fieldays, he noted how much the region had changed. "Hamilton has quite a zest to it, far superior to the time I was at school. It was great to be in the traffic jams, though I think I was in traffic longer than I was at Fieldays."

When asked what advice he would give to a teenager or his own 18-year-old self, the veteran journalist keeps it simple: "These days, get a decent education and remember to follow your instincts. A school like St Paul’s will stimulate you. Work your ass off, have a real goal, and you will get there."

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