Trump trial: Why can’t Americans see or hear what is going on inside courtroom?

In this courtroom sketch, former US president Donald Trump turns to face the audience at the beginning of his trial over charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in Manhattan state court in New York (Picture: Jane Rosenberg/Pool Photo via AP)

It is a moment in history – the first US president facing criminal charges in an American courtroom. Yet only a handful of observers are able to see or even hear what is going on.

Instead, most of the US is getting news of former president Donald Trump’s hush money trial secondhand. Starting with preliminary motions and jury selection on Monday, reporters in a Manhattan courtroom must convey what is being said to the outside world after the fact.