• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, April 4, 2023

The media circus has come to town -- and they have literally pitched their tents for the arrival on Tuesday of the indicted former President of the United States, Donald Trump.

The nation’s and the world’s news media have been there for days, marking their territories under small, temporary shelters on the west side of tiny Centre Street in Lower Manhattan, across from the massive Manhattan Criminal Courthouse.

There, President Trump is expected to arrive Tuesday afternoon for a planned arraignment and booking scheduled for 2:15 (Eastern). 

The entrance he will use, however, has been a subject of speculation. Will it be the main entrance across the street from the media tents or another entrance in the back or side of the building?

Wherever he goes, it is probably a sure bet that the media will be covering every possible entrance.

The entire area will be a cordoned-off, police-barricaded mess that will snarl traffic for blocks and disrupt pedestrian pathways. Sounds terrible, but to New Yorkers, it’s just another day in Crazy Town.

Donald Trump is a New Yorker too. Disruption is his modus operandi. He was to stay Monday night at his marble and onyx apartment on Fifth Avenue next door to Tiffany’s (for which he named one of his daughters).

That portion of Manhattan will essentially be shut down also until he leaves on Tuesday for a motorcade drive downtown. He is not expected to take the subway.

Coverage of Trump and his journey to court began in earnest on Monday as the ex-president’s motorcade came out of the driveway of Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach for the drive to the airport.

The airport drive was aired live from overhead and at street level on all three of the cable news channels -- Fox, CNN and MSNBC (screenshot from Fox News above).

Look for all legs of his trek from 57th Street to Centre Street and then to the airport after court to be covered in the same way on Tuesday.

There will be helicopters overhead and a full complement of national and international news crews stationed across the Fifth Avenue from Trump Tower. They have already been there for days and days.

But what of the action inside the courtroom? How many journos, if any, will be allowed into the room to witness the proceedings in person?

And what about journalists entering the courthouse building in the first place? Will some be allowed in, and the majority denied? 

The answer to the latter question is likely to be yes. Known as “pool coverage,” the journalists who get access to the building and the courtroom will provide their reportage to everybody. 

As for what goes on inside that courtroom, there are no cameras allowed. That is still a rule in the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse.

This is why media news coverage of news-making court appearances and trials in New York has traditionally relied solely on illustrations by a tiny coterie of courtroom artists, whose work is then disseminated throughout the world.

Another big question is the issue of protests that might add fuel to the general feeling of chaos down in Manhattan’s courthouse valley.

Or worse, will dueling protests by pro- and anti-Trumpers devolve into a pitched battle? And will some come armed with weapons?

Pitched battles and concealed weapons? These days, that’s just another day in Crazy Town.