Court reporters can be quite astute, and are often the only one in a courtroom without a dog in the fight ( …and yes, I’m including the judge in the list of biased personages…).

From personal experience, I can say that it appears that court reporters have a way of protecting certain private matters from public record, by reading their own shorthand with a less embarrassing interpretation of highly personal matters, when making their full transcription. Especially when they feel as though the defendant is being unfairly treated…