Trump’s juicy case off limits
SNOOZEFEST: NO DETAILS OF ALLEGED TRYST WITH ADULT FILM STAR MEANS RATINGS FLOP
Case held in camera means actress’ account of encounter heard only in court.
It ought to have been appointment TV – as Stormy Daniels served up salacious details of her alleged tryst with Donald Trump in the sensational prosecution of a former president.
Yet with New York state rules walling off the Republican billionaire’s hush money trial from the world’s TV cameras, what should have been the trial of the century has turned into something of a ratings flop.
“The trial is not receiving the attention it should, given its historic nature and importance, because there are no cameras in the courtroom, plain and simple,” said Karen Conti, a Chicago-based legal analyst and trial lawyer who handled the final death row appeals of serial killer John Wayne Gacy.
Trump, who denies wrongdoing, is accused of falsifying accounts to cover up the reimbursement of a hush money payment by his lawyer to Daniels in order to limit potential damage to his 2016 election campaign.
Live images and audio are banned, meaning the adult film actress’s vivid account on Tuesday of the encounter was only heard by those in the courthouse, forcing TV networks to figure out creative approaches to keep viewers interested.
One tactic favoured by CNN and liberal-leaning cable network MSNBC has been on-screen scrolls of text updates from the dozens of journalists watching from a spillover room, setting the scene and remarking on Trump’s demeanour and jurors’ reactions.
TV networks – particularly the conservative-leaning Fox News – have also relied on Trump making some of his own drama as he turns up each day.
Meanwhile, a panel of cable news anchors and experts has litigated every aspect of the case, contextualising the evidence they are receiving second-hand and offering analysis of legal tactics.
However, the stark truth, according to analysts, is that this cannot compete with live images.
“People are far more willing to be drawn into a court case when they have visuals,” said David Triana, a public relations consultant in Orlando, Florida.
“I think not being able to see reactions, in real time, from Donald Trump and other witnesses ... has negatively affected the impact this case should have on the public.”
Chip Stewart, a media professor at Texas Christian University, says reports of Trump falling asleep in court provide an illuminating example of how the lack of cameras has deprived the public of the full story.
“Without photo or video evidence, he [Trump] was able to turn to his usual claim that reporters were lying about it,” he told AFP.
“Imagine a front page or websites or the nightly news leading with a photo of Trump sleeping during his own criminal trial.”
With the absence of real-time theatrics, the American public has largely checked out.
Katherine Cartwright, principal at international media buying agency Criterion Global, argues America has grown weary of the never-ending Trump soap opera.
Burnt out by years of breathless coverage, the public has become desensitised to the scandal that envelopes the former president and has saturated the public conversation for years, she says.
“The lack of audio and video, coupled with the lack of newness of the material, is further muting the story in the current US news cycle, which is at a fever pitch over the war in the Middle East and its spillover into college campuses,” Cartwright said.