Caro Meldrum-Hanna
Caro Meldrum-Hanna
Caro Meldrum-Hanna is an Australian investigative reporter with ABC TV's Four Corners (TV program) and creator of EXPOSED: The Case of Keli Lane series. [4]
Caro started at ABC as an intern while studying at the University of Technology, Sydney. [8] Throughout her 11-year career as a journalist, Caro has won multiple accolades and gained much recognition for her body of work on Four Corners.
Career
Caro's journalism career began when she joined the ABC in 2006, starting in radio then branching into TV as the sole video-journalist for the Sydney newsroom. [19] Three years later, Caro joined Four Corners as a researcher, where she was given the nickname ‘NSU’ or ‘No Stone Unturned’. From 2011 - 2013, Caro reported for the ABC’s nightly current affairs program, 7:30, where she received six Walkley Awards nominations, eventually winning two. [5] During that time, Caro investigated biochemist Stephen Dank’s private enterprises, and exposed his links to criminals, his supplements business and private clinic. [19] She was involved in the investigation of 2013’s biggest sporting scandal – doping at the Essendon Football Club. [8] In addition, she successfully acquired hundreds of confidential text messages related to the Essendon Football Club supplements controversy thus revealing the involvement of James Hird. Caro revealed details of salary cap breaches and a supplement regimen at the Cronulla Sharks- an Australian rugby team, and named all the supplements used at several AFL and NRL clubs. [19]
In 2014, Caro joined Four Corners as an investigative reporter and has been working with the program till this day.
In 2017, Caro started working on ABC series about one of Australia's most notorious crimes, EXPOSED: The Case of Keli Lane.[7]
Awards
In 2016, Caro received the Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year Award for her report on abuses at the Don Dale Juvenile Detention Centre in the Northern Territory, which she conducted on Four Corners. Judges cited that "It was an exceptional, ground-breaking piece of journalism." [17]
A significant moment in Caro's career took place when she exposed the illegal practice of live baiting in Greyhound racing . Together with the team on Four Corners, Caro analysed many hours of covert vision to finally put together a picture of the extent of greyhound trainers’ unlawful and brutal practice of live baiting. The report was titled "Making a Killing", for which she received the prestigious Gold Walkley and the Walkley Award for Investigative Journalism in December 2015. Also in 2015, Caro was awarded the NSW Journalist of the Year by the Kennedy Awards Foundation for her contribution and work on Four Corners.
Throughout her career, Caro has been nominated for a total of 12 Walkley Awards, eventually winning four.
Some of her winning works include “The Essendon Files”, “Demons in Damage control”, and “The Cronulla Files”. [19] In 2014, she was nominated for the Logie award for Most Outstanding Current Affairs Report for her series of reports on the sports scandal involving certain NRL and AFL clubs. [4] Since 2009, she has also won several Quill Awards. [8]
Education
Caro attended Loreto Kirribilli, an independent Catholic school for girls before graduating with a Bachelor of Law & Bachelor of Communication, Law and Journalism from the University of Technology, Sydney, where she studied from 2000-2007. [7] She initially wanted to become a lawyer, but decided to pursue journalism instead after attending a four-week internship at the ABC organised for her by Wendy Bacon, the head of UTS Journalism at that time. She worked in the investigative unit for a month without pay, then ventured into radio news before moving over quickly to becoming a researcher on television. During that time, also Caro worked with Deb Masters and reporters such as Sarah Ferguson and Quentin McDermott. She went on to describe those times as her "formative years". [8]