The judge in Donald Trump’s hush money trial ordered the media on Thursday not to report on where potential jurors have worked and to be careful about revealing information about those who will sit in judgment of the former president.
Judge Juan Merchan acted after one juror was dismissed when she expressed concerns about participating in the trial after details about her became publicly known.
The names of the jurors are supposed to be a secret, but the dismissed juror told Merchan she had friends, colleagues and family members contacting her to ask whether she was on the case. “I don’t believe at this point I can be fair and unbiased and let the outside influences not affect my decision-making in the courtroom,” she said.
Merchan then directed journalists present in the courthouse not to report it when potential jurors told the court their specific workplaces, past or present. That put journalists in the difficult position of not reporting something they heard in open court.
Long is the list of jailed and dead ordinary people who wrongly assumed that by association with the privileged class they would enjoy the same immunities.
Trump may die a free man despite his crimes, but journalists are working people.
A lot of us have noticed that Trump gets away with things that normal people would not, and that’s not an accident. Trump can run his mouth about everyone forever, and he may never be held to account–and there are a lot of sometimes complicated reasons for that–but the same privilege absolutely does not apply to courtroom field reporters.
If I were covering this trial, I’d violate the court’s instructions at my own peril.
That certainly does not mean that some folks won’t be pressured to violate the order to save their livelihoods, but I would expect no less than swift and heavy consequences for people who anger the court and whose names aren’t Trump.
Considering these conservative news organizations thought they could get away with slandering voting machine companies that had a lot more money than they do, I don’t know that they’re smart enough to not report on it.