Media Roundup: Not My Problem

More stories posted overnight on the Conrad Black trial:

1. A wrapup of Ron Safer's opening address from the Washington Times, which mentions Conrad Black being a British baron.

2. A knowlegeable account of the trial so far, from Law.Com. Contains the name of the lawyer for Peter Atkinson, whose opening address was delivered Tuesday afternoon: Benito Romano.

3. A brief note, recounting that Gordon Paris will continue testifying today. A more detailed report is here, with a quote from the end of Csr. Genson's questioning of Mr. Paris: "'So you're testifying to numbers that one of these young people told you,' Genson said, referring to the four prosecutors."

4. A rundown of yesterday that starts off with Mr. Black's rejection of the "well-meaning" analogy to Gatsby by Lord Rees-Mogg.

5. The Globe and Mail's detailed report on Mr. Paris' testimony, which describes both Paris' initial supply, including his testimony about Black's knowledgability of events at Hollinger Int'l, and his later loss of flow when challenged by Csr. Genson, at the end of which he admitted that he was using a fact sheet prepared by the prosecutors; the quote in #3 was Csr. Greenspan's reponse to that admission.

6. A triple, about aspects of the trial, from the Globe and Mail: a) Gordon Paris in his role as leader of the "kleptocracy" investigation at Hollinger Int'l; b) a light feature on the ignorance of the American lawyers in the trial about Canada; c) a report disclosing that the two lawyers with Torys LLP that were involved in the suspicious transactions, Beth DeMerchant and Darren Sukonick, won't testfy in the trial.

7. The latest from Peter Worthington, with the headline "Weak out of the gate" and the lead-in "Prosecution bumbles as horde of defence lawyers put Black and company's chances on the upturn." Opines that the prosecution made a mistake by lumping the four defendants together.

8. A write-up from the Toronto Star, which blames the youthful prosecutors for making a mess out of what would otherwise be credible testimony from Mr. Paris. The Star also solicited the opinion of P.J. O'Rourke during his book-tour visit to Toronto yesterday: Mr. O'Rourke believes that this case is more like Martha Stewart's than Enron's or WorldCom's.

9. Another piece by Romina Maurino, on Mr. Paris' "tough day," webbed by the Winnipeg Free Press.

10. A brief trial-related poll watch, of polled Canadians, from TheTyee.ca of British Columbia.

11. A more in-depth write-up from the National Post, which contains summaries of both of the closing arguments made yesterday, including Csr. Newman's impugnment of David Radler. The duo put on this story, Barbara Shecter and Theresa Tedesco, are the National Post's regulars, just as Romina Maurino is the Canadian Press'. When the quickie books on the Conrad Black trial hit the shelves, I predict, one of them will be authored by Ms. Maurino and the other will be written by the NP duo.

12. A brief account in The Age of Australia, with a picture of Conrad Black, his wife and his daughter, Alana, at the top of it. Reprinted from the Guardian.

13. A focus upon the foibles of Mr. Black that have been revealed in the trial is in the Australian.

14. An article at Time.com, which focuses on the reasonable-doubt standard. Opines that the defense team is using the Johnnie Cochran strategy.


Finally, this write-up about Dr. Margaret Somerville ends with an anecdote about Conrad Black, told to the author of the piece by his old (now-deceased) friend, Nick Auf de Maur, who ends with "He hates it when I tell that story."