Your noon Briefing: Pell found guilty of sex charges

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

Hello readers. George Pell has been found guilty of child sex charges, and why the ABC can depend on Ita.

26/02/2019 Cardinal George Pell arrives at Victorian County Court.Picture : David Geraghty / The Australian.

Pell guilty of child sex charges

Cardinal George Pell has become the world’s most senior Catholic official to be convicted of child sexual abuse, after a jury found him guilty of abusing two choirboys at a Melbourne cathedral just months into his appointment as Archbishop in 1996.

A judge in the County Court of Victoria today lifted a suppression order on the reporting of Pell’s sexual abuse trials, after prosecutors dropped a set charges against him related to the alleged indecent assault of boys at the Eureka swimming pool in Ballarat in the 1970s. Pell’s status as a bishop means it will be the Vatican which defrocks him if his conviction stands.

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PM Scott Morrison visiting the Snowy Hydro Tumut 3 Power Station, in NSW. Picture Kym Smith

‘Real fair dinkum power’

Scott Morrison declares Snowy 2.0 “real fair dinkum power” and lauds Malcolm Turnbull’s “vision” for the project.

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NRL Manly Sea Eagles player Dylan Walker and partner Alexandra Ivkovic leave Manly Local Court in Sydney, Tuesday, December 11, 2018. Walker has been charged with common assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas) NO ARCHIVING

‘I don’t want to be alone with him’

As NRL player Dylan Walker learns his fate in court, a triple-0 call from his fiance was played following the alleged assault.

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13/02/2018: Ita Buttrose speaking to Stephen Brook about her time as a newspaper editor on the Behind the Media podcast. Hollie Adams/The Australian

The long read: ABC can believe in Ita

At 77, when her main aim in life was supposedly to spend more time with the grandkids, why would she want the job of sorting out the national broadcaster? Jamie Walker reports.

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Comment of the day

“Here was a perfect example as to why so many people are turning away from mainstream media. It wasn’t enough to subject Peterson to Q&A’s over-crowded panel and Tony Jones’ selective, rude interruptions of people who aren’t sufficiently PC for him.

“Oh no, the producers added a gotcha moment from Milo, and imposed a ludicrous one minute time limit on answers. That’s why sensible people interested in the views of Peterson and other thoughtful, intelligent people go to YouTube and podcasts. Peterson’s minders should have known the ABC was never going to let this man shine.”

Bettina, in response to ‘Q&A: Jordan Peterson appears on ABC panel show’.