Paula Penfold is a New Zealand investigative journalist. She is best-known for her investigation into the wrongful conviction of Auckland man

Teina Pora Teina Pora is a New Zealander who was wrongfully convicted of murdering Susan Burdett when he was aged 17; he served time in Paremoremo prison from 1994 for the crime, until he received parole in 2014. In 1992, 39-year-old Burdett was raped and ...

for murder and rape.

Career

Penfold began her career in radio, working for

Radio New Zealand Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and c ...

and

The Radio Network New Zealand Media and Entertainment (abbreviated NZME) is a New Zealand newspaper, radio and digital media business. It was launched in 2014 as the formal merger of the New Zealand division of APN News & Media, APN New Zealand; The Radio Ne ...

for eight years, before moving into television with

TVNZ , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the So ...

in 1998. She then moved to

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso *Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala *Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by EPTV ...

in 2003 and spent the next 13 years working in current affairs across

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...

, 3rd Degree and 3D. At 3D she spent three years investigating the wrongful conviction of Teina Pora, who spent 21 years in jail for the rape and murder of Auckland woman Susan Burdett in 1994. Her stories contributed significantly to the eventual quashing of his conviction and a $2.5 million dollar payout from the

Crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

. 3D was cancelled by TV3 in 2016 and Penfold moved to Fairfax, establishing the long-form documentary investigative unit Stuff Circuit with two of her former colleagues. She was named 'Reporter of the Year' at the 2019

New Zealand Television Awards New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

''Stuff Circuit Documentaries''

* ''Big Decision'' (2019) * ''Alias'' (2020) * ''False Profit'' (2020) * ''Emma'' (2020) * ''Deleted'' (2021)

Personal life

Penfold was married to TV3 anchor and journalist

Mike McRoberts Mike McRoberts (born 1966) is a New Zealand television journalist and news anchor. Early life McRoberts was born in 1966 to a Ngāti Kahungunu father and pākehā mother. He attended Manning Intermediate and Hillmorton High School in Christch ...

for more than 20 years. They split in 2018 and have two children together.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Penfold, Paula Year of birth missing (living people) Living people New Zealand investigative journalists