George Pell Guilty Verdict
Claims by some readers that The Age was part of a conspiracy protecting the Catholic Church and George Pell were a factor in the newspaper’s decision to publish its initial article about the cardinal’s conviction on child sex abuse charges, a trial has heard.
The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and some of their journalists are on trial, along with other Australian media, over contempt of court charges stemming from reports they published and broadcast in December 2018, in the days after Cardinal Pell was found guilty at trial in the County Court.
Cardinal Pell had his convictions overturned following a successful appeal to the High Court last year and was released from prison.
Victorian prosecutors allege more than 20 media companies and individual journalists breached a suppression order and other rules in publishing reports about the conviction when Cardinal Pell was awaiting another trial. That second trial was abandoned by prosecutors in February 2019.