Three Fairfax Media reporters charged with unlawfully accessing a Labor Party database have avoided conviction and been placed on a court diversion program.

Nick McKenzie, Royce Millar and Ben Schneiders were charged, along with former City of Melbourne councillor Fraser Brindley, after a police investigation into the group's accessing of a restricted database in 2010.

Age editor-in-chief Andrew Holden speaks with reporters outside court. Credit:Eddie Jim

Mr McKenzie and Mr Millar wrote in a subsequent report in The Age they had been supplied with a password to access the database.

The report, which was published in The Age in the week before the 2010 state election, outlined how Labor kept secret files on voters. The Labor government was defeated at that election.