Media Roundup: He and She

Here are some pre-week-2 stories on the Conrad Black trial:

1. A paraphrased AP report from the China Post of Taiwan, with an exotic timbre to the resulting English. Refers to the "hosing down" E-mail in this manner: "In the e-mail, he jovially reassured Hollinger International directors Marie Josee Kravis and Richard Burt that he would quell the shareholder grumbling..."

2. A Niagara Gazette story that treats Edward Greespan as a favourite son, of Niagara Falls, Ontario where he was born and raised.

3. Peter Worthington seconds Steve Skurka's prediction that Conrad Black will be found not guilty of all charges. He also seconds his own previous opinion that treating the defense as a "gang of four" (so to speak) was a bad move: as Mr. Worthington details, the defendants' counsels (relevant counsel in the case of Mr. Black) each have an opportunity to cross-examine any prosecution witness, which often causes said witness to contradict himself.

4. Barbara Amiel Black made the "Quotes of the Week" list at the Ottawa Citizen.

5. Eric Margolis weighs in at the Edmonton Sun, in defense of Conrad Black, who is someone that Mr. Margolis both admires and "heartily but amiably [disagrees with] over the Mideast and aspects of U.S. foreign policy." [No, Mr. Margolis is no neoconservative.] He points to lurid but trivial items mentioned in the charges as evidence that the prosecution has a weak case.

6. An interesting period piece from Barbara Black's largely forgotten past as Barbara Amiel, courtesy of Mark Bonokoski of the Sun.

7. Peter Duffy of the Halifax Chronicle-Herald has a paragraph's worth of kind words for Conrad Black in his latest column.

8. Janet Whitman of the New York Post explains how Edward Genson is using humour to defuse Conrad Black's "snotty" air in "Crack Black Humor." She quotes Steve Skurka in it.

9. In the Winnipeg Free Press, Dianne Rinehart takes Mrs. Black's side with respect to the "vermin" issue, quoting from Toronto Life magazine to make her point. (Interestingly enough, if you go to Toronto Life's Website and enter "Woman On The Verge" into its search box, you'll dig up a feature article on Canadian actor/director Sarah Polley.)

10. The latest report from Romina Maurino, with the names of the four next witnesses scheduled to testify this coming week: "Mike Reed and Thomas Henson — two men involved with the sale of Hollinger assets — David Paxton, CEO of Paxton Media Group and Angela Way, the former assistant of one of the defendants." Posted in the National News section of Canada.com. Also, here's a fact sheet on the upcoming witnesses that's an excerpt of Ms. Maurino's report.

11. A brief, tongue-in-cheek comment on Mrs. Black's "vermin" outburst, on the bottom of page 1 in TheStreet.com's latest "Funny Money" feature.


And finally, from the Telegraph, a piece that uses Conrad Black as an introduction to the discussion of a famous figure whose last name begins with "N'...Captain Nemo.