Australian media companies have been fined for breaching court orders not to publish details of Cardinal George Pell’s child sexual abuse convictions.
Victoria State Supreme Court Justice, John Dixon on Friday issued fines to 12 news media organizations totaling 1.1 million Australian dollars (840,000 US dollars).
Amongst the media companies includes, The Age, Business Insider, Sydney Morning Herald, Mamamia, and news.com.au were among the news outlets punished for their reporting.
The biggest penalty was 400,000 dollars for News.com.au, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, and 450,000 dollars for The Age newspaper, owned by Nine Entertainment.
The 12 companies pleaded guilty in February to contempt of court charges.
The media outlets breached a gag order which prohibited reporting on Pell’s 2018 trial and conviction in Australia at the time.
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Pell was convicted by a jury in December 2018 for sexually assaulting two choirboys at a Melbourne Cathedral in 1996.
The High Court unanimously decided to quash the convictions in April 2020.
The suppression order was imposed to prevent the verdict from influencing a second trial, which was later dropped.
Pell, the former Vatican treasurer and a one-time close adviser to Pope Francis, was released from prison 404 days after being handed the six-year sentence.
