Your noon Briefing: ‘It’s time to get ABC functioning again’

Your 2-minute digest of today’s top stories and a long read for lunchtime.

Hello readers. Incoming ABC chairman Ita Buttrose promising to get the national broadcaster functioning again with “proper stable management”.

28/02/2019: Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced Ita Buttrose's appointment as the new ABC chair. Hollie Adams/The Australian

‘Get ABC functioning’

Incoming chair Ita Buttrose has defended the broadcaster against accusations of bias and promised “proper stable management” to get the ABC “functioning again”.

“Eighty per cent of Australians say we’re unbiased. Eighty per cent of Australians say they trust our news more than any trust any other kind of information. So we must be doing something right.”

Ita Buttrose

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Cardinal George Pell's lawyer Robert Richter QC leaves the County Court in Melbourne, Australia, Wednesday, February 27, 2019. Cardinal Pell, once the third most powerful man in the Vatican and Australia's most senior Catholic, has been found guilty of child sexual abuse after a trial in Melbourne. (AAP Image/Erik Anderson) NO ARCHIVING

In Richter they trust

Many consider Robert Richter to be the finest criminal lawyer of his generation but the battle to clear ­George Pell’s name was as difficult as any in his career.

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12/2/2019 Maggie Beer and Charmaine Jones in SAHA's kitchen with chef Andrew Ivas. Maggie will perform in a musical concert tribute to Michael and Janet Jackson alongside Gospo Collective's choral queen and musical director Charmaine. Picture MATT TURNER.

Maggie Beer’s food deal

TV personality Maggie Beer is in talks with the listed Longtable Group to sell a controlling stake in her food business.

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Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture Kym Smith

‘Proscribe Hezbollah’

Canberra will “carefully examine” criminal behaviour by Hezbollah, after the UK said it would proscribe the group.

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30/7/2018: Jeanette Maguire is hoping for answers from the Malaysian Government about the disappearance of MH370 with a "full report" being released today, at her home at Forrest Lake, Brisbane. Jeanette Maguire's sister and brother-in-law, Cathy and Bob Lawton were among the 239 people on MH370. Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

The long read: Jeanette awaits MH370 answers

Not knowing the whereabouts of the remains of her beloved sister and brother-in-law compounds the grief for Jeanette Maguire, Ean Higgins reports.