Pell contempt case shows courts must adapt to digital age
If the courts just continuing to punish the owners of the printing presses, their frustrations with modern communications technology will just undermine the administration of justice.
In its harshness, the Victorian Supreme Court’s imposition of penalties totalling more than $1.1 million on 14 media outlets – including $160,000 against The Australian Financial Review – that pleaded guilty to contempt of court by breaching the suppression order banning reporting of Cardinal George Pell’s now overturned conviction for historical child sex offences in December 2018 betrays its frustration over the realities of modern communication technology.
Moreover, in its frustration, the court is in danger of punishing those who legitimately report on its failure to adapt to these realities that go directly to the proper administration of justice it seeks to protect.
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