ABC STAFF FRANTICALLY PROMOTE "NEW" CLAIMS AGAINST PELL. BUT THEY MISSED A DETAIL

The ABC this week published this fake headline, just as the High Court may rule George Pell  innocent of rape: "Two new accusers say George Pell abused them when they were boys." ABC staff joined the pile on, but Quadrant now quotes one "new" accuser: "[In] 2005,... Mr Clarke... said he loved growing up in the boy’s orphanage. 'It was great fun.'"

More evidence today of the ABC's shame. The ABC this week published fake headlines like this, just as the High Court may  next week rule George Pell was unfairly convicted of rape:  

Two new accusers say George Pell abused them when they were boys in the 1970s

This headline - and another like it - was false. Shamefully and dishonestly false.

The truth: these accusers are not "new". The allegations of one collapsed at a committal hearing. The allegations of the other were deemed too weak to go to trial. The ABC simply rehashed them just when  the High Court next week is tipped to rule Pell innocent of another claim the ABC ferociously pushed - that Pell raped two boys in his Cathedral straight after Mass.

  No wonder ABC presenters and staff  rushed to push this latest false claim that there were "new" accusers, with some insisting these accusations - unproven, denied and at least highly questionable - were in fact true. 

 Here are just some of those ABC staffers:

A lot of people are very rightly letting Bernie know we believe him.
To all survivors and their families - we believe you too.
And to the police officers and lawyers who have worked alongside them for years and years and years, thank you. #RevelationABC

— Kate Wild (@katewildabc) April 2, 2020

Pretty bloody proud to work for the ABC, to have @FergusonNews as a whip smart, kind colleague and of what she achieved in #RevelationABC. Some blokes are feeling vindicated by this fierce journalism. One contacted me to say so tonight. Truth is the child of time. ❤️

— Louise Milligan (@Milliganreports) April 2, 2020

“Watch your nuts, watch your nuts.” This is so sickeningly familiar. #RevelationABC

— Louise Milligan (@Milliganreports) April 2, 2020

Why was George #Pell even at the orphanage? There are creepy, disgusting similarities to every single allegation I have been told by men about this man. Every one. The defenders of this man sicken me.

— Louise Milligan (@Milliganreports) April 2, 2020

(Note: Pell and the senior nun at the orphanage say he wasn't.)

This is just extraordinary #RevelationABC https://t.co/keAZJwMx7o

— Annabel Crabb (@annabelcrabb) April 2, 2020

The new Pell story. Episode 3 8.30pm Thursday & iview ⁦@ABCTV⁩ #RevelationABC #Pell pic.twitter.com/ATUmPNqf7V

— Sarah Ferguson (@FergusonNews) April 2, 2020

Two new accusers say George Pell abused them when they were boys in the 1970s #RevelationABC Tonight 8.30pm ⁦@ABCTV⁩ #GeorgePell https://t.co/19ngCLI3gl

— Nial Fulton (@nialfulton) April 1, 2020

Unless I missed it, not a single presenter or journalist on the giant ABC challenged this narrative - that the accusations were "new" and that the accusers were to be believed.

I am not calling these accusers liars. I am not even saying their claims are false. 

What I am saying is that their claims are unproven.  I also say they seem highly improbable, given the evidence. I am also saying that people can honestly misremember the past, particularly after being urged to remember it in a certain way. And, lastly, I say that Pell has also been the target of an extraordinary number of clearly false or disproven claims, including several aired by the ABC. This suggests that false accusations him are not unusual, and that there is a frenzy now that make make memories highly prone to suggestion.

Now Quadrant's Roger Franklin reports another detail the ABC omitted in pushing these allegedly "new" claims:

 One thing in particular should be noted about the tale of horrors elicited from former Ballarat orphanage charge Peter Clarke. For those who missed the latest job lot of slanders, Mr Clarke told Ms Ferguson that the George Pell of 40 years ago somehow probed his anus through his bathers.

Yes, through.

Unlikely? Impractical? Impossible? In order to avoid applying the imagination to the unlikely mechanics of such an intrusive exercise, why not turn instead to the Ballarat Courier  of October 5, 2005, when Mr Clarke was interviewed about his  artistic efforts?

That article says this:

Mr Clarke said he loved growing up in the boy’s orphanage.

“It was great fun,” he said.

“There was always a new boy and you’d be saying “oh who’s that.”

Mr Clarke spent 18 years at the orphanage, but his toughest time was when he was released.

Why was that not included in the ABC's report?