None of the ABC or Crikey journalists sent contempt of court notices for breaching a suppression order in the trial of Cardinal George Pell will face legal action.

The letters sent to the media companies from Victoria’s office of public prosecutions did not give a reason for dropping the contempt cases, despite an earlier notice from the OPP director, Kerri Judd, warning them: “I intend to institute proceedings for contempt against you.”

But Guardian Australia understands that the more than 50 contempt cases still before Fairfax, Nine, Macquarie Radio and Mamamia have not been dropped, with staff from those organisations facing the prospect of court proceedings and even the prospect of jail time.

A suppression order on Pell’s trial was issued by the county court chief judge, Peter Kidd, on 25 June 2018 to prevent “a real and substantial risk of prejudice to the proper administration of justice”. At that time, Pell was to face a second trial on separate charges, which have since been dropped, and Kidd was trying to avoid a jury in the second trial being prejudiced by reporting from the first.

But when the guilty verdict was delivered in December, some international media outlets – who were not in court during the trials – published or broadcast the news. These international outlets included the Daily Beast, the Washington Post and several Catholic websites. Local media, including the Herald Sun and the Age, then also ran reports which were vague and did not mention Pell by name.

Judd’s original letter to journalists, sent in February, said: “It is my opinion that the above publication breaches the suppression order, has a definite and real tendency to interfere with the administration of justice and therefore constitutes sub judice contempt, is contemptuous by reason of it scandalising the Court, and aided and abetted contempts by overseas media.”

But journalists have reported the OPP used a “scattergun” approach, sending contempt notices to those who had nothing to do with the reporting of the Pell case, including staff who had quit or who were on maternity leave. The orders also failed to specify what about the reporting specifically constituted contempt. About 100 people received a contempt notice.

An OPP spokesman told Guardian Australia that no comment would be made about the nature of the stories still being pursued or how many cases remained.