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Judge Miller has been very good about allowing access to the courtroom by our cameras. We didn't get everything we wanted (some angles are not available due to the placement of the camera) but he gave us access for the rest of the trial, which is a definite victory for the public interest in this case.
The following coverage would not have been possible without the Election Integrity press pool's camera in the courtroom.
We provided footage of the party's opening statements to Sandy Rathbun at channel 4 for her excellent reporting on the trial. We are providing footage to all local media on a non-exclusive basis.
We have a great deal of interest in the resulting footage of the trial, which we expect to be about 30 hours in total, from documentary film makers and journalists. Dan Rather of HDNet, David Brancaccio of NOW on PBS, and LinkTV have all expressed interest in the footage. As well, documentarians such as Robert Greenwald of Brave New Films (director of such films as Uncovered, Iraq for Sale, and OutFoxed), Maria Florio of Earthwork Films, Mike Farrell (of MASH fame) of MJ&E Productions, David Bianchi of Exertion Films, Earl Katz of Public Interest Pictures, and Marc Huestis of Outsider Productions have all expressed keen interest in using footage of the trial for documentary purposes.
There is a wide and deep sense of the importance of this trial as a possible turning point in America's soul-searching fight for election integrity and transparency. It is for that reason that Mimi Kennedy, the Chairwoman of PDA, has been working diligently to spread the word about the importance of this trial. She's has done a wonderful job of reaching out to her network of associates so that people know what is happening here. Those who have a sense of history and a keen journalistic sense don't require much prodding to recognize that a record of this trial is important. In fact, today I received a supportive telephone call from Phil Donahue who recognizes the journalistic importance of this trial and asked me to convey his sense to the judge should I have that opportunity.
Judge Miller has been very gracious and helpful, as has Dave Ricker, the courts community liason officer. But issues remain. We still have some serious difficulties with sound quality that could degrade the usefulness of some of the footage to documentarian use. I hope that we can work out these small additional details to allow us to preserve this trial to the greatest extent compatible with good order and the dignity of the proceeding.
To those of you who have been supporting us with your advocacy and financial assistance, we thank you sincerely.
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