The judge in the case, Peter Kidd, immediately subjected news of Pell’s conviction to a suppression order, the Australian equivalent of a gag order on press coverage. Kidd’s order prevented Australian media outlets from reporting the news about Pell. NPR, the Daily Beast and the National Catholic Reporter, among others, also reported Pell’s conviction. The suppression order led to bizarrely curtailed reports in the Australian media, but did little to stop the news from emerging on social media. Since a gag order suppresses professional news reporting but not social-media sharing, it may have the unintended consequence of elevating “unverified rumor and gossip” over actual journalism, she said.

Source: Washington Post December 13, 2018 23:16 UTC