Media Roundup: Opening of the Closings

The media report, webbed overnight and this morning, on the Conrad Black trial focus on the start of the closing arguments:

1. Brooks Bulletin has webbed a version of Romina Maurino's feature on the upcoming closing arguments. [The Hamilton Spectator has an abridged version of it.]

2. An opinion piece in the Prince George Citizen has a unusual combination: unflattering words about Conrad Black mixed in with a retraction of an earlier erroneous item in a news report. It ends with the observation that, if Mr. Black is acquitted, he "deserves some credit for refusing to buckle, even when everything about him screamed guilt."

3. CBC News has webbed a Canadian Press summary of what to watch for in the upcoming closing arguments.

4. After an absence from trial-watching, Peter Worthington has devoted his latest column, as webbed by the Edmonton Sun, to a reiteration of his prediction that Conrad Black will be acquitted.

5. Paul Waldie has a feature, webbed by the Globe and Mail, on the prosecutor slated to give the closing address. Julie Ruder is young and relatively inexperienced, but has shown herself to be an effective examiner, including a cross examiner; she's also meticulous and organized. She's probably the prosecuting attorney that the jury is most likely to like.

6. The Irish Independent has webbed an abridged version of James Bone's take on the closing arguments.

7. Andrew Stern of Reuters has written a speculative guide on the outcome of the trial, with a couple of legal experts quoted who say that the "ostrich instruction" gives the prosecution a second crack at the cat.

8. CTV News has its own briefing sheet on the upcoming closing arguments.

9. From WBBM 780 Chicago, a guide that summarizes the strategies for the prosecution and the defense, with comment from a CBC reporter about how the prosecution has done so far.

10. CityNews has a brief summary box on the closing arguments.

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Mark Steyn has finished his four-part series on the state of the defendants as of now. His final assessment is of Conrad Black himself, and he concludes that Mr. Black should make out all right unless the hate factor intrudes. If the latter, then the U.S. government has bulled its way into warping a lot of business customs.