This first week of testimony at the Danny Masterson trial in Los Angeles has been intense, brutal, surprising, and exhausting. And we appreciate the encouraging words we’ve heard from so many of you about our approach to covering the trial.
We knew going into this thing that there would be two major realities we’d be dealing with. On the one hand, we knew there would be major media interest in the trial and that we’d be in the courtroom with a large number of other journalists. And second, that Judge Charlaine Olmedo had banned cameras from the courtroom. The camera ban was certainly going to help us, but how to differentiate the Bunker from the other reporters, who we knew were going to be doing some very good pieces on this story?
We figured the best way to carve out a niche was just to give you the feeling of being in the court with us, and that meant to capture as much as we could of what was being said and then getting it out to you almost as it was happening. So we struck on the idea of rapid reports published at every break in the trial. (And it’s not a new idea, it’s something we’ve done at other court cases we’ve covered going back a decade.)
So again, we appreciate the reactions we’ve been getting to those rapid reports, and to our end of the day video. Yesterday’s was really a doozy as we described two bombshells that went off in the shortened Friday session. That video went out to subscribers yesterday afternoon, and we’re including it for everyone (and at YouTube) this morning, and we’ve embedded it below.
And also, last night we sat down with Jeffrey Augustine to review some of the highlights the two of us observed in the courtroom this week. Substack won’t let us embed it here, but it went out on email this morning, and you can go to it directly with this link.
As always, we’re looking forward to seeing your thoughts on the trial as well. So please give us some of your thoughts about moments in testimony, or coverage of the case, or anything else that struck you this week.
Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features:
Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history
Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea
Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time
Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology
Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain
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PODCAST: Looking back at the first week of testimony in the Danny Masterson trial
i must say you provide a very balanced report on the trial. granted that the facts and background of the case are what they are (and in my view support a particular outcome), and you focus on them, i do think you give credit to both sides where it is due. compliments to you and the judge.
Cohen and friends are going claim victory if they can get any juror to disbelieve any one of the victims. So far, Victim1 is golden. She has done wonderful testimony and has been unshakable. If Victim 2 and 3 can do the same, Danny Masterson is going have a new career making license plates or whatever make work there is in a California prison.