Media Roundup: He Opened Their Eyes

The overnight media reports on yesterday's testimony in the Conrad Black trial focused almost exclusively on the testimony of William "Bud" Rogers, as he proved to be the only witness capable of discussing the technical details of the non-compete payments at the heart of the trial in such a way that the jurors' interest was held.

1. From the Chicago Tribune, a brief summary of the testimony of Csr. Rogers.

2. The Ottawa Citizen has webbed Peter Brieger's latest report, which notes that Csr. Rogers may have been the most popular witness in the courtroom so far. The defense tried to undercut Csr. Roger's testimony under direct examination in this manner: "Between the battling law firms were Kipnis, a real estate lawyer before he joined Hollinger, and Atkinson, a Canadian lawyer with almost no knowledge of U.S. securities law, the defence argued."

3. The New York Times also has a brief summary of Csr. Rogers' testimony.

4. From 570 News, a note that today's testimony will be from Beth DeMerchant, and it will be from a tape.

5. Paul Waldie of the Globe and Mail begins his first report with the 'possessed cell phone' incident and then covers the testimony of Csr. Rogers. "Mr. Rogers proved to be a sharp witness for the prosecution. He explained complicated business terms better than any other witness so far and many jurors took extensive notes as he spoke." The report also implies that the prosecution's disclosure detour is, presumably, proof that the defendants "lied to shareholders about their actions." Mr. Waldie concludes that Csr. Rogers did all right as a prosecution witness, on his own. (Many of the previous witnesses for the prosecution haven't.)

6. Mr. Waldie's second report of the day centres on Beth DeMerchant, the second lawyer from Torys LLP to testify. (She's now retired.) Her testimony so far, a half-hour's worth of direct from yesterday, has been guarded.

7. Rick Westhead of the Toronto Star reports that the heart of Csr. Rogers' testimony was the lack of disclosures of the non-compete payments to individuals that resulted from the CanWest purchase of Hollinger Int'l assets. This included lack of written disclosure of them to the board: "While the audit committee was told that non-compete payments were included as a part of each sale, Cramer pointed out the document failed to disclose that any company executives would personally receive money."

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Peter Brieger has another write-up, posted on the "Black Board," which relays two verbal gaffes made during cross-examination yesterday by two different defense counsels. He ends by offering congratulations to Csr. Rogers "for his modesty."