diff --git a/rust/otap-dataflow/crates/telemetry/src/internal_events.rs b/rust/otap-dataflow/crates/telemetry/src/internal_events.rs
index 07a68bd98f..c892e8e1dd 100644
--- a/rust/otap-dataflow/crates/telemetry/src/internal_events.rs
+++ b/rust/otap-dataflow/crates/telemetry/src/internal_events.rs
@@ -12,7 +12,11 @@
 
 #[doc(hidden)]
 pub mod _private {
-    pub use tracing::{debug, error, info, warn};
+    pub use tracing::callsite::{Callsite, DefaultCallsite};
+    pub use tracing::field::ValueSet;
+    pub use tracing::metadata::Kind;
+    pub use tracing::{Event, Level};
+    pub use tracing::{callsite2, debug, error, info, valueset, warn};
 }
 
 /// Macro for logging informational messages.
@@ -29,6 +33,8 @@ pub mod _private {
 /// ```
 // TODO: Remove `name` attribute duplication in logging macros below once `tracing::Fmt` supports displaying `name`.
 // See issue: https://github.com/tokio-rs/tracing/issues/2774
+///
+/// TODO: Update to use valueset! for full `tracing` syntax, see raw_error!
 #[macro_export]
 macro_rules! otel_info {
     ($name:expr $(,)?) => {
@@ -80,6 +86,8 @@ macro_rules! otel_warn {
 /// use otap_df_telemetry::otel_debug;
 /// otel_debug!("processing.batch", batch_size = 100);
 /// ```
+///
+/// TODO: Update to use valueset! for full `tracing` syntax, see raw_error!
 #[macro_export]
 macro_rules! otel_debug {
     ($name:expr $(,)?) => {
@@ -102,6 +110,8 @@ macro_rules! otel_debug {
 /// use otap_df_telemetry::otel_error;
 /// otel_error!("export.failure", error_code = 500);
 /// ```
+///
+/// TODO: Update to use valueset! for full `tracing` syntax, see raw_error!
 #[macro_export]
 macro_rules! otel_error {
     ($name:expr $(,)?) => {
@@ -118,3 +128,46 @@ macro_rules! otel_error {
                 )
     };
 }
+
+/// Log an error message directly to stderr, bypassing the tracing dispatcher.
+///
+/// Note! the way this is written, it supports the full `tracing` syntax for
+/// debug and display formatting of field values, following tracing::valueset!
+/// where ? signifies debug and % signifies display.
+///
+/// ```ignore
+/// use otap_df_telemetry::raw_error;
+/// raw_error!("logging.write.failed", error = ?err, thing = %display);
+/// ```
+#[macro_export]
+macro_rules! raw_error {
+    ($name:expr $(, $($fields:tt)*)?) => {{
+        use $crate::self_tracing::{ConsoleWriter, RawLoggingLayer};
+        use $crate::_private::Callsite;
+
+        static __CALLSITE: $crate::_private::DefaultCallsite = $crate::_private::callsite2! {
+            name: $name,
+            kind: $crate::_private::Kind::EVENT,
+            target: module_path!(),
+            level: $crate::_private::Level::ERROR,
+            fields: $($($fields)*)?
+        };
+
+        let meta = __CALLSITE.metadata();
+        let layer = RawLoggingLayer::new(ConsoleWriter::no_color());
+
+        // Use closure to extend valueset lifetime (same pattern as tracing::event!)
+        (|valueset: $crate::_private::ValueSet<'_>| {
+            let event = $crate::_private::Event::new(meta, &valueset);
+            layer.dispatch_event(&event);
+        })($crate::_private::valueset!(meta.fields(), $($($fields)*)?));
+    }};
+}
+
+mod tests {
+    #[test]
+    fn test_raw_error() {
+        let err = crate::error::Error::ConfigurationError("bad config".into());
+        raw_error!("raw error message", error = ?err);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/rust/otap-dataflow/crates/telemetry/src/self_tracing/formatter.rs b/rust/otap-dataflow/crates/telemetry/src/self_tracing/formatter.rs
index 2d6b4c2b79..4821bc5209 100644
--- a/rust/otap-dataflow/crates/telemetry/src/self_tracing/formatter.rs
+++ b/rust/otap-dataflow/crates/telemetry/src/self_tracing/formatter.rs
@@ -91,6 +91,16 @@ impl RawLoggingLayer {
     pub fn new(writer: ConsoleWriter) -> Self {
         Self { writer }
     }
+
+    /// Process a tracing Event directly, bypassing the dispatcher.
+    pub fn dispatch_event(&self, event: &Event<'_>) {
+        // TODO: there are allocations implied in LogRecord::new that we
+        // would prefer to avoid; it will be an extensive change in the
+        // ProtoBuffer impl to stack-allocate this as a temporary.
+        let record = LogRecord::new(event);
+        let callsite = SavedCallsite::new(event.metadata());
+        self.writer.print_log_record(&record, &callsite);
+    }
 }
 
 /// Type alias for a cursor over a byte buffer.
@@ -119,13 +129,20 @@ impl ConsoleWriter {
     /// Output format: `2026-01-06T10:30:45.123Z  INFO target::name (file.rs:42): body [attr=value, ...]`
     pub fn format_log_record(&self, record: &LogRecord, callsite: &SavedCallsite) -> String {
         let mut buf = [0u8; LOG_BUFFER_SIZE];
-        let len = self.write_log_record(&mut buf, record, callsite);
+        let len = self.encode_log_record(&mut buf, record, callsite);
         // The buffer contains valid UTF-8 since we only write ASCII and valid UTF-8 strings
         String::from_utf8_lossy(&buf[..len]).into_owned()
     }
 
-    /// Write a LogRecord to a byte buffer. Returns the number of bytes written.
-    pub fn write_log_record(
+    /// Print a LogRecord directly to stdout or stderr (based on level).
+    pub fn print_log_record(&self, record: &LogRecord, callsite: &SavedCallsite) {
+        let mut buf = [0u8; LOG_BUFFER_SIZE];
+        let len = self.encode_log_record(&mut buf, record, callsite);
+        self.write_line(callsite.level(), &buf[..len]);
+    }
+
+    /// Encode a LogRecord to a byte buffer. Returns the number of bytes written.
+    fn encode_log_record(
         &self,
         buf: &mut [u8],
         record: &LogRecord,
@@ -323,15 +340,7 @@ where
     // Allocates a buffer on the stack, formats the event to a LogRecord
     // with partial OTLP bytes.
     fn on_event(&self, event: &Event<'_>, _ctx: Context<'_, S>) {
-        // TODO: there are allocations implied here that we would prefer
-        // to avoid, it will be an extensive change in the ProtoBuffer to
-        // stack-allocate this temporary.
-        let record = LogRecord::new(event);
-        let callsite = SavedCallsite::new(event.metadata());
-
-        let mut buf = [0u8; LOG_BUFFER_SIZE];
-        let len = self.writer.write_log_record(&mut buf, &record, &callsite);
-        self.writer.write_line(callsite.level(), &buf[..len]);
+        self.dispatch_event(event);
     }
 
     // Note! This tracing layer does not implement Span-related features
@@ -595,7 +604,7 @@ mod tests {
 
         let mut buf = [0u8; LOG_BUFFER_SIZE];
         let writer = ConsoleWriter::no_color();
-        let len = writer.write_log_record(&mut buf, &record, &test_callsite());
+        let len = writer.encode_log_record(&mut buf, &record, &test_callsite());
 
         // Fills exactly to capacity due to overflow.
         // Note! we could append a ... or some other indicator.