As a journalist, covering the crime round requires resilience, determination, and an innate curiosity about the criminal mind. 

As the daughter of a police officer and a psychologist, perhaps it was a natural fit that Paula Doneman would spend her life looking into the darker parts of humanity. From investigating criminal motorcyle gangs and exposing an illegal sex ring within the Australian Defence Force, to covering one of Queensland's most violent serial killers, Leonard Fraser, Paula is a leading figure in Queensland investigative journalism. 

Her investigative work has earned her several industry accolades, including a Walkley Award. Paula published Things a Killer Would Know in 2006 on the Leonard Fraser case and has also presented several true crime podcasts. 

She shares her experience as a woman in the world of crime journalism for Telum's Women in Crime (Reporting) series. The series, featuring the experiences of prominent female crime reporters across Australia, will run across several News Alerts this week. 

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Tell us about your career in crime reporting so far. Where have you been and what have you done?
I spent most of my 30-year career covering the crime beat in Queensland. I cut my teeth on university newspaper, The Weekend Independent, under the expert guidance of industry icons Bob Bottom, Professor Bruce Grundy, and Evan Whitton. A story which taught me a lot about crime was a series exposing the prison illicit drug trade and several inmate murders disguised as suicides. It gave me an incredible start in building a prison contact network on both sides of the bars.

I continued my newspaper career at The Courier-Mail and The Sunday Mail, including a four-month stint in New York City for the New York Post, the tabloid for celebrity and crime! I moved into broadcast and digital journalism for the Seven Network before joining the ABC's Brisbane newsroom in May 2021. In my spare time, I tutor in journalism at the Queensland University of Technology.

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What made you choose this area of the media to specialise in?
That’s a difficult question to answer. I think this career chose me, growing up as the daughter of a police officer and a psychologist who worked in the criminal justice system, the subject of crime was never far from the household conversations, debate and daily life. I grew up on a diet of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy mysteries, as well as classics like To Kill a Mockingbird and True Blood, which my parents encouraged me to read (we had the Marx Brothers for comic relief). The crime round is the melting pot of society, and a subject which resonates with everyone. No day is ever the same.

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What are some highlights of being a Woman in Crime (Reporting)? 
Crime reporting can take you into dark corners of inhumanity. The saving grace is the extraordinary and resilient side of human nature, whether it be victims of crime, their families and communities, or determined frontline emergency workers. The other highlights are exposing wrongdoing, and giving people a voice who otherwise are not heard.

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What are some challenges of being a Woman in Crime (Reporting)?
I often work alone and am constantly mindful of my personal safety. While reporting, I have been assaulted, indecently assaulted, been the target of death threats, had my car vandalised, and thugs have turned up at my home a couple of times in futile attempts to intimidate me.

When I was reporting on a convicted killer secretly running an escort business while on parole, I found used condoms on my car. A catholic priest I was investigating pulled some of my school records to “get dirt on me”. On another occasion, myself and a female colleague working on a story received similar threats from a man who wanted to stab us to death and commit sexual acts on us afterward. It’s difficult to know whether I was targeted in this way more because I am a female journalist, or because people were trying to stop a journalist pursuing a story.
 
Early in my career, I battled sexist attitudes inside and outside my newsroom. At times, I had to go the extra mile to prove I was just as capable as my male counterparts in crime reporting. I had some great male counterparts who I learned a lot from and were always respectful of me. However, one boss was so determined to move me off the crime round, he constantly called me horrible names and threw things at me. The abuse only stopped when I turned the tables on him and asked him outside for the fight he kept threatening me with. He didn’t follow me into the car park.

I think some criminals I have interviewed have been disarmed by me being female and have a begrudging respect that I showed up alone.

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What is the most memorable story you have covered in this field?
Another difficult question to answer. Sometimes, what makes a story memorable is the people who, when at their worst, show enormous grace and courage to speak to me, or the victim who finds their voice. Sometimes, it’s the terrible situations and the carnage we witness, like the Childers Palace Backpackers Hostel fire in June 2000 that killed 15 people, or a natural disaster like an inland tsunami.

Then there are the bizarre stories like Rockhampton woman Natasha Ryan, who went missing in 1998 and was found hiding in a wardrobe five years later, during the trial of serial killer, Leonard John Fraser, who was charged with her murder. Natasha ended up being his only defence witness.

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Any tips for PRs wanting to pitch you stories?
Not really. Being a crime journalist, I don’t deal much with PR. Generally, when dealing with any journalist, be straightforward, honest, and concise.




Answers submitted by Paula Doneman, Crime Editor at ABC News in Brisbane.