MELBOURNE, Australia — Dozens of prominent Australian news outlets and journalists have been ordered to appear in court to answer allegations that they violated a gag order barring coverage of the trial of Cardinal George Pell, a former Vatican official who was convicted in December of molesting children.

Among those summoned to appear in a Melbourne court on April 15 were editors and reporters for Fairfax Media, which owns The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Financial Review, and for Nationwide News, which is owned by News Corp. They could face fines and possibly prison time.

Some of the news outlets themselves were also named in the summons. “I’ve never seen so many media organizations and journalists charged in one hit,” said Jason Bosland, director of the Center for Media and Communications Law at Melbourne Law School.

Chief Judge Peter Kidd, who presided over Cardinal Pell’s trial in the County Court of Victoria, imposed a suppression order on journalists who were covering it, on the grounds that news reports could prejudice a jury in what was then expected to be the second of two trials.