George Pell contempt trial: Judge drops some charges but media bid to have case thrown out fails
A judge has rejected the media’s efforts to get charges against them about their reporting on George Pell thrown out of court.
A bid by Australia’s media organisations to have charges against them thrown out of court over reporting of George Pell has failed.
Media argued they had no case to answer in contempt of court charges against them over their reporting on the 2018 trial of George Pell, but Judge John Dixon rejected their submission in the Supreme Court of Victoria on Friday.
Dozens of media organisations, journalists and editors face potential criminal convictions, jail time and fines over their reporting on the trial.
Cardinal Pell was convicted of historical child sex offences by a jury in December 2018, before being acquitted by the judges of the High Court in April 2020.
The County Court of Victoria issued a suppression order that forbid publication of Cardinal Pell’s trial on historical child sex offences in 2018.
The suppression order was issued by County Court chief judge Peter Kidd, who said reporting on the trial could impact the jury in a second trial against Cardinal Pell — which was later dropped.
No media organisation named George Pell, but they reported that a high-profile Australian had been convicted of a serious crime.
Reporting included a News Corp article — the publisher of this website — headlined “Nation’s Biggest Story: The story we can’t report”, a story in The Age entitled “Why media can’t report on a high-profile case”, and similar reporting by other Australian media outlets.
However, overseas publications including The Washington Post were able to name Cardinal Pell and provide details of the trial and jury decision because they did not have to follow orders from Australian courts.
Government lawyers argue Australian readers could have seen reporting from local media and been inspired to look up overseas articles on the internet.
Lawyer for the media Matt Collins QC previously argued there was no case to answer on the charges because the prosecutor had not provided adequate evidence.
He said the Victorian Office of Public Prosecutions had not proved to the court that Australian readers were able to find international articles about the case based off searches triggered by the Australian media reporting.
But Justice Dixon rejected this argument on Friday.
“(The media) had a real tendency, as a matter of practical reality, to interfere with the due administration of justice,” he said.
He accepted an argument that media outlets outside of Victoria had no case to answer on allegations they could have impacted a second jury through their reporting — but said they “remain in the proceeding” because they could still be found guilty of breaching the suppression order.
Seventy-nine charges remain against 27 media organisations, journalists and editors.
Cardinal Pell has since returned to the Vatican after being acquitted on the charges in April.
Cardinal Pell has written a memoir called Prison Journal: Volume One, which will be released by Catholic publisher Ignatius Press this month.
He spent just over one year in jail before being acquitted.
Media companies named in the suit include News Corp — the publisher of news.com.au, Herald Sun, The Daily Telegraph and other newspapers — as well as The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, Channel 9, The Australian Financial Review, 2GB radio, Mamamia, and Business Insider. Individual journalists and editors have also been charged.
The case will next appear in Victoria’s Supreme Court on January 28.