It’s a momentous event to be witness to: for the first time in U.S. history, a former president was found guilty on multiple felony charges. Former President Donald Trump is now a convicted felon (or will be soon) after a New York jury found him guilty of falsifying business records in connection with a hush-money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels to cover up a sex scandal.
But unless you were among the dozens of people with courtroom access, you didn’t actually get to bear witness to the trial, which proceeded, in accordance with New York law, without TV cameras in the courtroom. That fact — while not consequential to the case’s outcome, Northeastern University legal experts say — touches on an evergreen debate in legal circles about the role that televised proceedings play in promoting transparency and educating the public on legal matters.
