Media Roundup: Rub Your Filmy Eyes

Week 4 of the Conrad Black trial is over, for the jury at least. Here are the reports from overnight:

1. The Chicago Tribune has a brief write-up, entitled "Lawyer says Thompson aware of payments."

2. The Belleville News-Democrat has webbed the latest AP report, which ends with the disclosure that it was Jack Boultbee and Peter Atkinson who declined to take Darren Sukonick's advice to not send the CanWest non-compete payments through Hollinger International's accounts. It's also been webbed by Editor and Publisher.

3. The New York Times has a webbing of the latest Reuters report, and the New Zealand Herald has an abridged version of it - the first five paragraphs.

4. From CANOE Money, a CP report forecasting next week's testimony, which will start with the rest of the Darren Sukonick tape and should include live testimony from William Rogers and Paul Saunders, Henry Kissinger's ex-lawyer. The tape of Beth DeMerchant is expected to be shown next week too.

5. The Winnipeg Sun has a webbing of Sun Media columnist Peter Worthington's latest write-up on the trial, in which he complains about the boredom...the boredom...the boredom....

6. The Globe and Mail's Paul Waldie's report deals with the frailites of human memory - specifically, Csr. Sukonick's memory, when compared with the E-mails he wrote at the time of the CanWest deal.

7. The Montreal Gazette has webbed Peter Brieger's latest write-up, which also recaps the cross-examination of Csr. Sukonick. It includes his recommendation, from an October 2000 E-mail, to bundle the non-compete payment into one cheque, sent to Ravelston.

8. Linwood Barclay of the Toronto Star has a comedy column based on the price tag of the Bora Bora trip. It includes the identity of the recipient of that E-mail in which Mr. Black complained about the time he had: Seth Lipsky, now the editor-in-chief of the New York Sun.

9. Another column, by the Chicago Sun-Times' Neil Steinberg, relates a poem by recently-deceased novelist Kurt Vonnegut, reprinted in his column, to Conrad Black's lifestyle.

10. A brief write-up by Mary Wisniewski, also of the Sun-Times, has a recounting of conflicting disclosure advice Mark Kipnis received in 2001 as its opener.

11. A detailed CP write-up on yesterday's testimony has made the Halifax Daily News. It ends with an update on expected witness Barry Tyner, a Vancouver accountant, who "may" testify.

12. A second article by the Globe's Mr. Waldie reports that Guilliame Hecketsweiler will not testify after all. As noted above, though, the prosecution is trying its luck with two live lawyers next week.

13. An expanded version of the latest Reuters report has been webbed by the Age of Melbourne, Australia. It recounts that former governor James Thompson allayed Csr. Sukonick's fears about the non-compete payments, as structured, weren't approved by the board.


Also, from CANOE Money: the Ontario Court of Appeal has denied an appeal by Conrad Black to block the receiver of Ravelston from releasing Mr. Black's, and other defendants', compensation from that company. "The... decision, whose reasoning was released Friday, found that Black's argument 'has no realistic possibility of success if leave to appeal were granted as it raises no apparent error in law or palpable and overriding factual error' in the Superior Court ruling [that the appeal was denied for, by the OCA today.]"

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Both Peter Brieger and Mark Steyn recount the "Chester Blair" comedy break: Mr. Brieger in a "Black Board" entry, and Mr. Steyn on his Maclean's blog.