Media Warmup

Here are some warmup articles, for the beginning of the trial tomorrow morning:

1. The cast of characters, starting with the defendants.
2. A more complete, though still partial, list of witnesses.
3. A sketch of how the trial is likely to go, with an anticipation of the defense's strategy as its lead-in.
4. The Financial Times of London anticipates that the prosecution's strategy will be centred on proving that the outside directors were duped by Conrad Black and the other three defendants.
5. The Edmonton Sun provides a brief pre-trial fact sheet.
6. A brief item from the BBC, with related links, including to that redacted article on Patrick Fitzgerald.
7. A brief one from the CBC. At the end, it is noted that Radler will be held up by the prosecution as a kind of pentinent.
8. An item from a local station, NBC5 Chicago.
9. A Toronto station, City TV, has an announcement, "cast of characters," and chronology in this report. Included is the factoid that one of the prosecution's graphics, "reportedly," is photos of money.
10. A Chicago Sun-Times columnist, Neil Steinberg, has categorized this trial as "Man vs. Superman," in the second snippet of his latest column. He compares Conrad Black to Raskolnikov in Dostyevsky's Crime and Punishment: both were men, according to Mr. Steinberg, who thought that they could exist above the rules.

Also: a chronology of the events leading to the trial is making the Web news rounds.