Media Roundup: Radler Reprise?

The media reports, webbed overnight and this morning, focus mostly on the upcoming decision about David Radler's petitioned-for possible return to the stand:

1. The Hamilton Spectator has webbed an abridged Associated Press report that focuses in on Judge St. Eve's upcoming decision on whether or not to let the defense call Mr. Radler. So has the New York Post.

2. CBC News has webbed a brief item which also focuses in on the expected Thursday decision by Judge St. Eve, on whether or not to grant the defense's motion to call Mr. Radler for a second round of testimony.

3. The Chicago Tribune has webbed a slightly longer (though still abridged) version of the same AP report, which mostly discusses the upcoming David Radler decision and ends with an excerpt from testimony of an executive-compensation consultant from New York, James Reda.

4. An AP summary/forecast, webbed by WQAD.com, starts off with the note that the trial is near its end, but focuses most of its wordage on the defense motion to recall Mr. Radler.

5. Joe Warmington's latest column, as webbed by the Toronto Sun, portrays the trial as an unusual combination of a show trial that's also boring. He commiserates with the yawning jury, and notes that even Conrad Black himself has been seen yawning; he also adds an unusually philosophical quote from Barbara Black: "'The only way you can cope is to expect the worst,' she told me... In other words if something good happens, it's a surprise"

6. The Vancouver Province has a brief write-up that deals with Mark Kipnis' motion to dismiss, which Judge St. Eve has already said deserves special attention.

7. The Ottawa Citizen has a slightly longer one on the same subject, credited to Mary Vallis.

8. The Toronto Star's Rick Westhead's latest report discusses the planned upcoming books on the trial. First mention goes to Steve Skurka, who's already seeking a literary agent for a book that "would potentially be called Tilted and focus on differences between Canadian and U.S. justice systems." It also notes, though, that the commercial success of any such book is not quite a sure thing.

9. Also from the Star, Jennifer Wells reminds us that the trial's outcome is far from certain. She opines that the closing arguments will tip the balance in the minds of the jury; the prosecution is heard last before the judge instructs.

10. Arabian Business has a recap of the trial so far as the second item in their "Media news roundup" for today.

11. A report from Mary Wisniewski of the Chicago Sun-Times focuses upon the testimony of Mr. Reda. It relays that he admitted under cross-examination that the non-compete payment to Jack Boultbee "of $1.3 million was in the market range for the deals Reda studied... [but] was [also] higher than most." It ends with a mention of the motion to recall Mr. Radler.

12. Bloomberg has a feature on the current fate of the Sun-Times Media Group, formerly Hollinger International. It notes that, by the time-worn industry standard of ten times EBITDA, Sun-Times Media Group is already fairly valued, implying no premium if its newspaper properties are sold. Although it does note that "Sun-Times hasn't regained its footing since Black left," it also notes that $5.50 per share in special dividends were paid out when Gordon Paris was CEO, as of the first quater of 2005. (So, despite the stock price dropping more than 50% under Mr. Paris' tenure, the performance of the shares on a total-return basis is something like a much smaller loss of 16.7%. On the other hand, the huge drop in the price of the stock in Feb. 2005 may not have been caused by the circulation scandal, implying that the scandal was alread discounted. As is often the case in financial journalism, the story revealed by the background research is quite different from what's revealed by seat-of-the-pants commentary, including mine.) The feature also points out that current CEO Cyrus Feldheim is unusually tight-lipped about the sources of Sun-Times' cash flow.

13. Another story on what used to be Conrad Black's empire has been written by Paul Waldie and webbed by the Globe and Mail: Ravelston Corp. is putting mining claims, for a Northern Saskatchewan property, up for sale. "In a report filed in an Ontario court, the receiver said the value of the rights is 'speculative' and 'it may be determined that they have no value.' The receiver, RSM Richter Inc., said it has two unsolicited bids but 'neither offer is for significant value.' It's not clear how Ravelston acquired the rights." The rest of the report recounts the testimony of Canadian tax law professor Jinyan Li.

14. Mr. Waldie has written another Conrad-Black-related article for the Globe, which details a tangled pair of motions in the Sotheby Realty's lawsuit against Mr. Black for the commission on the sale of the Manhattan apartment. In addition to a motion to dismiss the suit by Mr. Black, on the grounds that the agents colluded with the government, there's now a motion from the plaintiff to dismiss the motion to dismiss.

15. The Guelph Mercury has a more complete version of the same AP report excerpted by the Spectator, Post and Sun.

16. The Guardian's media-watch blog "Greenslade" has an entry about the Conrad Black trial being "'muted and tedious.'"

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Mark Steyn has devoted an entry to the upcoming motion to dismiss the charges against Mark Kipnis, in which he notes that "[c]ounsel for Conrad Black's two longtime associates, Jack Boultbee and Peter Atkinson, went to work on the heart of the government's case, producing competent unexciting efficient witnesses who addressed the only reason we're here: the 'non-compete' fees to Hollinger executives." The entry previous to that one speculates that the prosecution has pinned its last hopes on the obstruction-of-justice charge against Conrad Black sticking, as in the case of "Scooter" Libby. It ends with this note: "I was in New York this afternoon and ran into a big bunch of Manhattan business types suddenly expressing great optimism that Conrad will be acquitted."