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



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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.

Pell, the processes and the media

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Cardinal George Pell, former archbishop of Melbourne and later of Sydney, was one of the most influential men in the Vatican. From 2013 to October 2018 he was a member of the Pontifical Council of Cardinals, from February 2014 to February 2019 he was Prefect of the new Economic Secretariat of the Roman Curia.

In 2007, the cardinal was accused of hiding cases of abuse. Beginning in 2017, investigations into the sexual abuse of boys against Pell were conducted. In 2018 he was found guilty. The first appeals court upheld this ruling. He was finally overturned by the High Court of Australia in April 2020. Pell is acquitted of all charges.

The trial the cardinal is conducting against the media refers to the period after the first sentence in 2018, when a second indictment was pending.

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”.

A graffiti on the door of a church shows: the acquittal of Cardinal Pell was not without controversy.

Legend:

A graffiti on the door of a church shows: the acquittal of Cardinal Pell was not without controversy.

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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.”

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