From other sources I have heard that there were other media present at the courthouse but Tommy was singled out.
Also, is it usual practice to bar media from a trial? Does this happen in the United States?
They’re doing the trial in three separate phases. The media restrictions were put in place so that the verdicts of the earlier ones don’t prejudice the later ones. Once the third phase is over the restrictions will be lifted.
The UK allows selective media bans, which is against what we expect here in the USA. The media’s job is to be a check and balance against the State and to monitor its behavior. This flies directly into the face of how the UK is behaving.
I’m not sure about other media present, I don’t recall seeing them in Tommy’s video. That said, he was only repeating what had already been published and this was a sentencing hearing - so he wouldn’t be influencing the trial.
This whole concept of secret trials, away from the media, along with arresting him, sentencing him, and issuing a gag order on his arrest is what I’d expect in communist countries, not the UK. It wouldn’t happen here.