Media Roundup: Solicited Advice

The stories on the Conrad Black trial, webbed overnight by media Websites, mainly focus upon a witness' answer to one of Conrad Black's now-oft-repeated E-mails:

1. The Belleville News-Democrat has webbed the Associated Press report on yesterday's part of the trial, which concentrates upon the advice given by Marie-Josée Kravis to Conrad Black during the 2003 Hollinger International shareholder revolt.

2. A New York Times report recounts Mrs. Kravis' testimony not only under direct examination, but also under the first 45 minutes of cross-examination, which proceeded in much the same way as Richard Burt's did. The cross-examination of Mrs. Kravis will continue on Monday.

3. The Ottawa Sun has webbed a brief Canadian Press report, focusing on Mrs. Kravis' advice to Mr. Black.

4. Another CP report, this one credited to Romina Maurino, has been webbed by the Hamilton Spectator.

5. Paul Waldie of the Globe and Mail starts off with Mrs. Kravis' testimony while being cross-examined by Patrick Tuite. It starts off with: "For an economist who works at a high-powered think tank, Marie-Josée Kravis had a hard time explaining her reading habits to the jury in the Conrad Black trial yesterday."

6. The Toronto Star's Jennifer Wells takes a different tack from the rest, starting off with a profile of Mrs. Kravis as an A-lister. (She seems to be subbing for the now-absent Brits.)

7. The New York Post has an excerpt from the latest Reuters report.

8. From the Chicago Sun-Times, Mary Wisniewski's report on what Mrs. Kravis revealed under direct examination. Her report is the only one amongst the eight in this list that doesn't mention Mrs. Kravis' advice to Mr. Black, given in 2003, to be "humble."

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The Chicago Tribune has webbed a profile on David Radler, expected to testify in the week after next. It starts off with the observation that, despite the apparent long odds against a plea bargainer being a credible witness, the Justice Department had struck gold with a known sleazebag, Andrew Fastow, who proved in the Enron case to be "more compelling on the stand than many had expected.... [Turncoat insiders] often make good witnesses because of their intelligence, presentation skills and first-hand knowledge of what went on, former prosecutors say." Interestingly, this profile blames Mr. Radler for the inflated-circulation scandal: it was he who hand-picked the Sun-Times' circulation manager, Mark Hornung, even though Mr. Hornung had earlier resigned from the paper as a self-admitted plagiarist. This point is made before relating Mr. Radler's good side. One of his virtues happens to be all-Canadian: "[I]f one of Radler's employees had a problem, he would move mountains to help him or her. When a financial executive was diagnosed with brain cancer, Radler worked to find the top specialist in the city, helped the man organize his affairs and even paid some of his debts, several former executives say."

Near its end, the profile makes the point that Mr. Radler became more and more estranged from Conrad Black because of (evidently mutual) antipathy for his new wife, Barbara Amiel Black.


Tom Bower has a piece, webbed by the London Times Online, on Marie-Josée Kravis's testimony. He deems her to be one of the most credible prosecution witnesses so far, with the other being Richard Burt. Also, the Guardian has an article on prosecution of fraud in the British legal system, which concludes: "While the American legal system successfully demonstrated the complicated crimes of Bernie Ebbers of WorldCom and Ken Lay of Enron to juries, the British legal system's attempts to prosecute complex frauds are invariably fiascos." In the second-last paragraph, it holds up the Conrad Black trial as proof that a fraud trial by jury can result in a fair trial for complex corporate-fraud cases, provided that a rigourous judge is presiding. Extending the principle of trial by jury is the article's recommendation for improving the British legal system. [The same article has been posted in The Guardian's "Comment Is Free" section.]