Australian media fined $840,000 for gag order breach in Pell sex assault case

AnAustraliancourt on Fridayordered a dozenmediafirms to pay a total of A$1.1 million ($842,270) in fines for breaching a suppressionorderon reporting the conviction of former Vatican treasurer George Pell for child sexual assault.

The 12mediaoutlets, mostly owned by Nine Entertainment Co and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, pleaded guilty in February to breaching thegagorderon reporting on the trial and conviction of the cardinal after the state agreed to drop all charges against journalists and editors.

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Supreme Court of Victoria Justice John Dixon convicted themediafirms saying they had "frustrated the suppressionorderas they diminished its purpose or efficacy by reporting information contrary to the terms of theorder".

Pell's conviction for abusing two choirboys was overturned in April last year after he was jailed for more than a year. He was the most senior Catholic church official to have gone to prison for child sex assault.

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Reporting on Pell's trial and verdict in 2018 wasgagged Australia-wide by the County Court of Victoria to ensure the cardinal received a fair trial on further charges he was due to face. Those charges were later dropped.

After he was convicted by a jury in December 2018, foreignmediapublished the verdict, naming Pell and the charges, despite the suppressionorder.

Australianmediathen published reports saying they were unable to cover major news about an unidentified high-profile person, with some pointing out that the news could be found online.

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Dixon on Friday said he did not accept themedia's argument that their breaches of the suppressionorderwere due to an honest but mistaken belief that their reporting would not contravene theorder.

He imposed the heaviest total fine on Nine Entertainment's The Age newspaper, at A$450,000, for two articles and an editorial, while imposing the heaviest single fine on News Corp's news.com.au website, at A$400,000, for an online article.

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The Age and News LifeMedia"deliberately took a risk by intentionally publishing information derived from the trial to advance a particular purpose - a collateral attack on the role of suppressionorders in Victoria's criminal justice system - that was obviously in conflict with the purpose of the suppressionorder," Dixon said in his judgment.

The maximum penalty for a breach of a suppressionorderis nearly A$500,000 for companies.

Dixon did not accept the state's argument that in publishing their articles themediawere trying to pressure the County Court to lift the suppressionorderin December 2018, which would have made the breach "egregious and extreme".

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In deciding the penalties, Dixon said he had taken into account themediafirms' agreement to pay A$650,000 to cover the prosecutor's costs and themedia's "sincere and unreserved apology" to the courts.

Nine Entertainment and News Corp'sAustralianarm were not immediately available for comment.