Press freedom in Australia – Cardinal Pell intervenes against the media after acquittal – News

Cardinal Pell is suing the complaint after his first-degree conviction for child abuse.

In Australia, 30 media, journalists and publishers, both Australian and international, are on trial for reporting on the case of Roman Catholic Cardinal Pell.

In 2018, you are reported to have violated your obligation not to report the first sentence against Pell. The court therefore imposed this condition in order to prevent bias in the media in connection with a second trial. That second charge was subsequently dropped due to lack of evidence.

International publications such as the Washington Post and The New York Times reported on the first judgment in 2018 and the SRF did the same.

The Australian media did not report directly, but complained that they were banned from reporting on matters of public concern. Some publications have even referred to articles in foreign media. One of Melbourne’s most popular newspapers, the Herald Sun, ran a black page that read “censored”.

There are high fines

“Such bans are not uncommon in Australian and British law,” says SRF correspondent Urs Wolderlin. Violation of this requirement can result in imprisonment for journalists and fines for media companies.

Correspondent Walterlin views the matter with mixed feelings: “At that time there was a real risk that an alleged child molester could be released due to previous convictions.” The cardinal was later acquitted. “The situation was different then.”

Investigative journalism threatened

“In a democracy, the media should be able to report freely, fairly and in a balanced way. This is an endangered commodity in Australia, “says Wolderlin. Media and journalists are under increasing pressure. Various laws have been introduced or planned so that investigative journalists in particular would have a foot in jail if only they did their job. Whistleblowers in Australia also put their freedom at risk when they reported scandals.

“The police even carried out raids on journalists who discovered problems,” Wolderlin said. This procedure was reprimanded in court and the proceedings were stopped. But: “The goal of intimidating critical media has been achieved.”