Media Roundup: Close To Call

The media reports, webbed overnight and today, on the Conrad Black trial have mostly gone into Sunday-prediction mode:

1. From Ruth Dudley Edwards, as webbed by the Irish Independent, a column on the trial which begins with an extended quote from another column by the Toronto Sun's Lorrie Goldstein. Ms. Edwards states that she doesn't know which way it's going to end up either - in fact, she uses a colourful Irishism - "It would be a foolish virgin who would put her shirt on either outcome" - to say so.

2. Susan Chandler of the Chicago Tribune has written a feature on Barbara Black, with the theme that she's bearing up well under the pressure. It includes the common speculation that her personal tastes are one of the contributory factors behind her husband's business downfall, and it does point out that they were unveiled for all to see in court.

3. Peter Worthington is back. His latest column, as webbed by the Toronto Sun, picks up on a theme he's used earlier: that the prosecution, by trying the defendants in a single trial so as to portray them as 'racketeers', was like the dog in the fable grabbing at the reflection of its steak in the river. The column contains this line, worth thinking over: "The prosecution's case was all about unidentified shareholders and rhetoric about corporate stealing. Unlike Martha Stewart or Scooter Libby, no evidence was produced about Conrad lying." Also worth thinking over are the two miscarriages of justice mentioned near the end of this piece.

4. Romina Maurino's regular forecast report, as webbed by 570 News, starts off with the kicker that makes the outcome difficult to predict: the lack of a decisive piece of evidence implying guilt. Despite the ambiguity, though, one of the experts quoted in the report (Andrew Stoltmann) says: ""To sift through all the charges for four defendants I think it's going to take at least a week... If the jury comes back after a day, that's really bad news for Black and the other defendants." The other expert quoted (James Morton) believes that the jury will "'either come to the decision quite quickly or they'll be deadlocked...'"

5. Andrew Stern of Reuters has also written a forecast report, with the same indeterminate conclusion. In addition to being the first report to carry a quote from Peter Atkinson, it quotes three experts therein. "'It seems to me to be a real coin-toss, and when it's a coin-toss it favors the defense" because the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt is on the prosecution, said Charles Ross, a white collar defense attorney monitoring the trial." "'From everything I've been reading, the defense has established reasonable doubt," Rebekah Poston, another white collar defense attorney said, referring to the hurdle faced by U.S. prosecutors.' The third, Hugh Totten, still says there's still a real chance that all defendants, except for Mark Kipnis, will be found guilty.

6. A mention of the trial's approaching end has made the New York Times' "The Week Ahead," in the "Executives on Trial" section. Also mentioned in that section are John Rigas, Timothy Rigas, Don Siegelman and Richard Scrushy, all of whom are to be sentenced or re-sentenced on the same day that Judge St. Eve is scheduled to give instructions to the jury.

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In a case related to the Conrad Black trial through his lead-co-counsel, the Toronto Star has a report on the staying of charges against Robert Topol, who was one of the co-accused in the Livent alleged fraud scandal. "In an 18-page decision, Justice Ian Nordheimer chronicled numerous blunders by prosecutors, which contributed to three years of unconstitutional delays... The biggest reason, he wrote, was Crown lawyers who continuously accommodated the schedules of Edward and Brian Greenspan, the defence team for Topol's co-accused."


Mark Steyn has joined the indeteterminacy bandwagon himself, even if he adds his standard complaints about the prosecutors. He speculates that Eric Sussman, should he give the rebuttal, will fall back on already-established habit and slip in new accusations.


Finally, the New York Times has a feature report, to which Richard Siklos contributed, on Conrad Black's nemesis, Rupert Murdoch; he's currently pursuing the Wall Street Journal. It describes him as an eighteenth-century figure who is comfortable and even sagacious when operating in a regulated environment. Like many businesspeople of this stripe, he has faced legislative vindictiveness when he crossed the line; like many businesspeople of his stripe, he has a resilience that enables him to bounce back from such defeats. (In that part of the business world, it's largely a game.) The basic panolpy of Mr. Murdoch's rule-bending techniques, especially his ease at securing "easements," are described in this report. The more original tricks resemble product placements.

(If Conrad Black gets convicted, then Mr. Murdoch will be the mogul to watch, and the star on the rise. Few people are going to confuse Rupert Murdoch with Conrad Black.)