It may be apocryphal, but there is enduring value in the story of the headline in a small antipodean newspaper that in the 19th century became agitated by events in Crimea: “We warn the Tsar.” The story came to mind late last year when the judicial system in the state of Victoria, Australia, attempted to suppress news that a senior Vatican figure, Cardinal George Pell, had been convicted of sexual offences against choirboys in Melbourne’s Saint Patrick’s cathedral between 1996 and 1997.
Although it had been known that Pell was being prosecuted, the precise charges had not been disclosed, and the trial had not been permitted to be reported while it was taking place. The reason for suppression had been concern that potential jurors for an expected second Pell trial, on separate abuse charges, might be prejudiced by public reports of the first. As it happened, not long after the first trial ended the second was abandoned due to evidentiary issues.
Continue reading...from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2L2j0im
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