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Media companies hear penalty for breaching George Pell suppression order
The Victorian Supreme Court has handed down a penalty to major media companies that breached suppression orders by publishing the details of Cardinal George Pell’s now-overturned child sexual abuse conviction.
Naomi Neilson
Media companies have been charged more than $1 million in fines and $650,000 in costs after “blatant and wilful defiance” of suppression orders. The Age and News-dot-com received some of the worst penalties at $450,000 and $400,000 respectively.
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Fairfax Media Publications received the next highest penalty of $162,000 for articles in the Sydney Morning Herald and Australian Financial Review. General Television Corporation received $30,000 for the Today Show and Mamamia received $20,000. Nationwide News received a $21,000 fine for The Daily Telegraph.
Smaller charges of $1,000 were handed down to Queensland Newspapers Limited, the Geelong Advertiser, Advertiser Newspapers while Herald and Weekly Times received a $2,000 penalty for Herald Sun and Weekly Times.
Both Allure Media and Radio 2GB were handed a $10,000 penalty.
The contempt of court trial began in Victoria in November 2020, two years after the cardinal’s charges were first laid. Three months later, the case resolved when the media corporations agreed to plead guilty to the breach in exchange for the court dropping all its other charges, including those against individuals.
The breaches appeared in news stories that appeared in both print and online for the Herald Sun and Daily Telegraph, The Age and Sydney Morning Herald and on the Today Show and Sydney’s 2GB radio. Owners News Corp, Nine – but formerly Fairfax at the time – Mamamia and Radio 2GB appeared in court for the penalty.
Cardinal Pell’s five convictions for child sexual abuse have since been overturned by Australia’s High Court and he has returned to Rome.
