Television: News Reporting Winner

Robert Penfold, National Nine News, Nine Network, “Katrina’s Fury”

Robert Penfold arrived on America’s Gulf Coast the night before Hurricane Katrina hit. The most powerful hurricane to strike the region in a century, Katrina broke the levees protecting New Orleans and devastated the area.

Travelling with Gold Walkley-winning cameraman Richard Moran, the US correspondent travelled the back roads into the city to find tens of thousands of people stranded – among them holidaying Australians looking for a way out.

Covering stories for all Nine News bulletins, Penfold did live crosses and interviews for the network’s other flagship programs – A Current Affair, Sunday and 60 Minutes – as well as interviews across Australian radio.

Compiled under extraordinary circumstances, he covered the overall disaster as well as the scenes as Australians escaped the ravaged city.

During his 34 years as a reporter, Robert Penfold has worked for all three commercial networks. Since starting his career as a cadet on the Campbelltown-Ingleburn News and the Picton Post newspapers, he has covered Cyclone Tracy, both Gulf Wars, conflicts in Croatia, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the US Marines’ invasion of Somalia, September 11 and both space-shuttle disasters. For the last nine years, he’s been Nine’s correspondent in the US.

Judges’ comments
Penfold’s reports drew well on his breadth of experience in the US and his analysis of the political impact of the rescue effort was tellingly credible. This was reporting by a consummate professional, who managed to balance the plight faced by thousands of Americans with personal tales of Australians stuck in New Orleans.