JUDGE NIXES AUSSIE MEDIA BID TO DUMP PELL REPORTING BREACH RAPS

A group of Australian media organizations and journalists must continue to fight contempt of court charges over the publication of details of a 2018 conviction of Cardinal George Pell, Victoria's Supreme Court ruled.

Justice John Dixon declined to throw out the entire case, saying 79 of the 87 charges relating to suppression order breaches will continue into the next phase, Annika Burgess reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa.) Dixon said although media respondents failed to persuade the court that the prosecution's case could not be proved at trial, "today's decision does not mean that any media respondent has been adjudged guilty of contempt." The trial is set to continue on January 28.

The 12 media outlets and 18 journalists are accused of breaching a gag order which prohibited reporting on Pell's 2018 trial and conviction in Australia. Pell was convicted by a jury in December 2018 for sexually assaulting two choirboys at a Melbourne Cathedral in 1996. The High Court unanimously decided to quash the convictions in April this year.

The suppression order was imposed to prevent the verdict from influencing a second trial, which was later dropped. In the contempt of court trial that began in early November, lawyers argued there was a "devastating, bazooka-size hole" in the case to prosecute the journalists and media organizations. Some local media outlets alluded to the 2018 verdict, saying a high-profile Australian was convicted, and published headlines such as "The story we can't report on."

Others are accused of breaching the order by directing the public to international media outlets that had reported the guilty verdict. All of the accused, which include the Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Financial Review, 2GB radio and Nine Entertainment, have pleaded not guilty. Dixon agreed there was "no case" to answer in eight "sub judice charges." The respondents who had those charges dismissed, including journalists from the Daily Telegraph, Courier Mail and a 2GB radio host, are still set to face other contempt charges.