Australia’s biggest news organizations and editorial staff members went on trial Monday on charges they breached a 2018 gag order on coverage of Cardinal George Pell’s now-quashed sex crimes convictions.
Several of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp mastheads as well as former Fairfax group newspapers, now owned by broadcaster Nine, are among those who dispute that they breached the court order.
The 18 accused editorial staff members, who include reporters, editors and broadcasters, face potential prison sentences if found guilty of being in contempt of court, while the media companies could be slapped with fines.
All of the accused deny the charges.
A judge issued the suppression order in December 2018 to prevent news of Pell’s convictions from prejudicing jurors in an expected second trial on child sex abuse charges that were subsequently dropped in early 2019.
But the order meant Pell’s 2018 convictions for abusing two choirboys in the 1990s—which were overturned in April this year—initially could not be reported in Australia, including on the internet.
In opening the case Monday, prosecutor Lisa De Ferrari told the Victorian Supreme Court that US-based publications The Daily Beast and The Washington Post were among the first to break the news online.
Local media then ran cryptic articles saying they had been barred from reporting on a story of major public interest involving a high-profile Australian.