Full Jury Selected in Trump Hush Money Trial

Lawyers selected a full 12-person jury on Thursday in the criminal hush money case against former President Donald Trump. 

For Context: The process came with some hiccups, including one formerly selected juror who said they could not keep outside influences from affecting their decision, expressing concerns that their identity would be revealed publicly. This prompted Judge Juan Merchan to instruct reporters to avoid publishing physical descriptions of jurors. Trump faces charges that he falsified business records to hide a payment for the silence of porn actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. 

How the Media Covered It: Coverage was common across the spectrum on Thursday afternoon, including several instances of sensationalism. HuffPost’s (Left bias) homepage featured several lines of large-size font describing the trial, including, “JURY IS SET!” with lightning bolt emojis. CNN’s (Lean Left bias) homepage included a live tracker of the trial timeline. Meanwhile, coverage from the right took a milder tone and often highlighted quotes from Trump criticizing the trial and President Joe Biden. Disregarding Merchan’s request to not physically describe the jurors, several major new outlets across the spectrum published descriptions of each of them.