Toronto Life: The Trial of Conrad Black

The Trial of Conrad Black Toronto Life

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June 2007 Archive

Black Talk: Now Live

Posted on June 29, 2007 by Douglas Bell

We are taking your questions about the trial now. Please go here.

Update: the discussion has now closed. Continue reading for the transcript.

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Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

Posted on June 29, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Rather than grinding your gears with a rehash of notes sent from the jury room to the judge, or recapping the Globe’s tasteful survey of Lord Black’s prospective housing should he be convicted, I thought I’d write a paragraph or two this morning as to why I think this trial mattered, matters and will continue to matter.

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Black Talk: A Live Discussion

Posted on June 28, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Tomorrow, Friday, June 29, at noon ET, I will be answering questions from readers about the trial. The discussion will be live for one hour, and the transcript will be available on the site afterwards. You can submit questions in advance or during the discussion by going here. Only visitors that are registered users on Torontolife.com can submit questions. You can register here. I look forward to chatting with you all.

Update: The discussion is starting now here

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Black Watch: Today's Top Stories

Posted on June 28, 2007 by Douglas Bell

There was nothing quite so spectacularly—how to put it?—comprehensive as yesterday’s coverage in the Post. But the reporting on Sussman’s last moments upon the stage (in all, a six-hour rebuttal that St. Eve had suggested in open court should have taken only two), the judge’s instructions, and the final passage of the jury toward their deliberations gave rise to another journalistic tsunami this morning. We learned, among other things, that Conrad Black is still bilingual (asked to sum up the case against him, he replied “de la pure fiction”) and that a man named Steven R. Merican, whose business card lists his profession as “evaluating juror opinions and developing courtroom objectives,” was handing out free advice for quotation to the press on the sidewalk outside the Dirksen building. You couldn’t make it up.

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Black Watch: Today's Top Stories

Posted on June 27, 2007 by Douglas Bell

As the Meedja moves into the period of building hysteria, coverage that was merely cacophonous has now morphed into confusion akin to a conversation between crystal meth addicts. Where the Globe and the Star each devoted respectful single pages to Black et al.’s (almost) last day in the dock (the Globe’s headshots of four white-guy lawyers affording their predictions—innocent, guilty, likely innocent, and guilty on two charges—were a throwback to the golden age of probity, circa 1955), the Post went completely (and if there were a more apropos description I’d use it) ape shit. Eleven pages of wall-to-wall lemming-like fascination. A media column covering the media columns about the media columns; a 50-bazillion-word wrap-up by Theresa Tedesco; mini-profiles of Black’s friends, enemies, and the one thing they all share—his various civil suits; George Jonas free-associating in a column that wouldn’t be out of place in High Times. I could go on.

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The Jury is Out: A Live Discussion

Posted on June 26, 2007 by Douglas Bell

At 5 p.m. ET, I will be chatting with Alan Gold about the legal matters surrounding the trial. You can read the live conversation here. Our Business Brief correspondent Roger Martin will join us at 6 p.m. This will be a closed discussion, but readers are invited to comment on the final transcript.

Update: the transcript is now available.

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Black Watch: Today's Top Stories

Posted on June 26, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Reports this morning describe some effective theatrics from the defence. The Globe’s Paul Waldie writes that Atkinson’s lawyer, Michael Schachter, in concluding his summary (the bulk of which was delivered at the end of last week), asked his client to stand and face the jury before describing him as “…a man who has led a life of honour and integrity.” Rosie DiManno, hardly a bulwark of support for Black et al., lauds Ron Safer’s performance in defence of Mark Kipnis: “If nothing else, the defence lawyer managed to entertain, with pantomime, knuckle-rapping and discursive asides, while never losing control of a quite compelling narrative.”

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June 26 Live Discussion

Posted on June 25, 2007 by Douglas Bell

On Tuesday, June 26, Alan Gold, Roger Martin and myself will be discussing legal and business matters related to the trial. The discussion will get underway at 5 p.m. ET and conclude at 7 p.m. The discussion will be closed to the public, but your comments are encouraged. A subsequent discussion with readers will be held a couple of days later. Stay tuned for more information about that conversation. Continue...


Black Watch: Today's Top Stories

Posted on June 25, 2007 by Douglas Bell

The end is finally and irrevocably nigh. Today the limber-faced Ron Safer, acting for Mark Kipnis, finishes off the summary arguments for the Hollinger four. Then, either late this afternoon or first thing tomorrow, lead prosecutor Eric Sussman gets two hours for rebuttal (the judge has already warned the loquacious one in open court that he’s on the clock). This will be followed in short order by St. Eve, who will charge the jury. Et voilà. The 12 jurors and three alternates will then retire, the fate of Mark Kipnis, Peter Atkinson, Jack Boultbee and Lord Black in their hands. Thereafter, for as long as it takes, the principals and the press must wait. The judge has decreed a half-hour warning time before a verdict is announced, creating a virtual Guantanamo for all concerned.

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Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

Posted on June 22, 2007 by Douglas Bell

The last day of the trial week (in the final stages of a three-month ordeal) saw a lot of giddy school’s-out behaviour among journos, lawyers and defendants alike. During an unscheduled break due to an illness among the jurors, Boultbee lawyer Pat Tuite, prosecutor Jeff Cramer and a couple of local scribes leaned into a corner happily chewing over details of the so-called Family Secrets mob trial starting 13 floors above them. The Chicago Sun-Times’ Mary Wisniewski cracked wise with her editor over her cellphone, speculating that the juror’s illness probably resulted from the clams at a local eatery. “Though I’m not sure we can reliably report that without incurring a lawsuit.” Earlier in the courtroom, as Peter Atkinson’s lawyer unfolded yet another cardboard chart demonstrating Atkinson’s innocence, Conrad Black passed a note to his daughter and shot her a comic glance as she read it. This morning’s press jottings reflect this general mood of Indian summer before the harsh reality of deliberation and verdict. In the Star, Rosie DiManno bypassed Black entirely and spent the day at Family Secrets. The Guardian’s Andrew Clark compared Black to Enron’s Jeffrey Skilling on the half-year anniversary of his incarceration. Clark mischievously, I think, suggests that Black has less of a leg to stand on:

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Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

Posted on June 21, 2007 by Douglas Bell

As the trial rattles toward its denouement sometime on Tuesday of next week and the fate of Black et al. falls into the laps of 12 ordinary Americans, the last tactical skirmishes paralleling the hostilities in the courtroom play out in the press. Coverage has ebbed somewhat at the moment. The Brits, having seen the Eddies make their case for Lord Black, have decamped, leaving the wire services, local press and the Canadian entourage. The Canadians are a source of some fascination to the American and British press. Representatives of both contingents have puzzled openly about the obvious bias displayed by the likes of Mark Steyn and Peter Worthington in and out of the courtroom. Questions also arose about the obvious conflict involved in Ken Whyte assigning and editing pieces at Maclean’s despite receiving a $100,000 bonus from Black nearly two years after his former boss gave up ownership of the Post. Then, over the last couple of days, things started to get really weird. First Theresa Tedesco wrote a piece in the Post quoting Julie Ruder’s father suggesting that Greenspan’s performance had to some extent repudiated his daughter’s argument from the day before:

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Accessories to an Alleged Crime

Posted on June 21, 2007 by David Livingstone

We’re finally nearing the end of the Conrad Black trial in Chicago. Jurors will soon be scratching their heads, gnawing on their blue collars or a feathered pen, trying to be just.

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Put Your Eds Together

Posted on June 20, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Yesterday was a banner—if somewhat disjointed—day for the defence. Eddie Greenspan’s presentation in the morning had a certain formal elegance. Standing behind a lectern, reading from a prepared text, he began with a pleading rarely heard in an American courtroom: “May it please the court.” This was yet another example of Greenspan’s wry detachment from the American judicial system, a pose he has maintained throughout. (For instance, the absence of the Crown notwithstanding, he bows to the bench on each occasion he enters the courtroom.) Beyond that, the substance of his nearly three hours—set out in a grave (if slightly fusty) tone—turned on the “awesome” responsibility weighing on the jury. He reminded his audience several different ways of the importance of the presumption of innocence, of reasonable doubt, and that each of the jurors must weigh the evidence for him or herself and not be swayed by the majority opinion (a theme that reminds the listener that for the defence, a lone voice is sometimes the difference between conviction and a hung jury).

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Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

Posted on June 20, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Monday was Ruder’s day, and yesterday and today belonged to the two Eddies—though you wouldn’t know it from Rosie DiManno in the Star, who’s less than impressed with Eddie G.:

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End Game

Posted on June 20, 2007 by Roger Martin

Almost all of my friends are convinced that Black is going to the big house. This is interesting to me. They pretty much think the jury is going to nail him for taking money that should have gone to the shareholders. The way I see it—perhaps because I spend so much time watching and writing about CEO compensation—vast sums of money flowing to CEOs whether or not they deserve it is a pretty standard occurrence. And, as in the case of Black, it is all revealed in the regulatory filings and approved by everyone with a vote.

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Ruder Awakening

Posted on June 19, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Yesterday was Julie Ruder’s day. With her dad proudly looking on from the gallery, the 30-something single mother of two gave a bravura seven-hour performance, summarizing the case for the prosecution before a jam-packed courtroom. By turns calmly articulate, maternal (sometimes to the point of coddling) and righteously indignant, Ruder aimed her theatrics at winning the favour of the only audience that counts—the jury. “Conrad Black is not a rules guy, ladies and gentleman,” she said, using a just-us-folks style that, while striking some in the press corps as patronizing, clearly resonated. Her metaphors and analogies were a pastiche of pop culture and Midwest vernacular. She referred to the stipulations in contracts as “deal or no deal.” In ridiculing the Mammoth Times deal (for which Black demanded non-compete payments in what would only ever be a one newspaper town), she implored her audience to “Look at the cover. Those are snowboarders, people.” She sneered at the idea that Barbara’s birthday party was a business event. “Look at the guest list: Oscar de la Renta, Donald Trump. Come on!” Trump’s celebrity status came up again when Ruder suggested that Black’s asking him to help quell a shareholder revolt at the 2003 annual meeting—the infamous “esoteric favour”—was part of an overall effort to hoodwink the shareholders. What did [Black et al.] think? she asked. “That maybe the shareholders wouldn’t notice that they’d stolen $60 million dollars? It’s the ultimate disdain. It’s offensive.”

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Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

Posted on June 19, 2007 by Douglas Bell

This morning the British press was back on the case with a vengeance, the Times, The Telegraph and The Guardian all reporting from the courtroom. Typically, their attention drifts toward voyeuristic fodder. The Times’ James Bone, a master of this dark art, jumps on a laundry list of Lady Black’s extravagances:

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Black Watch: Today's Top Stories

Posted on June 18, 2007 by Douglas Bell

The weekend saw a plethora of wrap-ups and cheap-seats columnizing in the face of the coming summations and deliberations that will finally, short of a hung jury (heaven forfend), put paid to this low drama. Among them, Susan Chandler of the Chicago Tribune paints a nightmare scenario for the Trib’s competitor, the Sun-Times, should Black, its former proprietor, be exonerated. (I’m not sure how it could get any worse thereabouts. When I asked a local real estate guy what he made of Chicago’s other paper, he didn’t miss a beat: “It’s crap. The sports is OK, but the rest of the paper sucks.”)

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Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

Posted on June 15, 2007 by Douglas Bell

In describing U.S. vs. Conrad Black et al.—fraught as it is with $500-an-hour complexities—the journalistic inclination is always toward the metaphor: ebb and flow, give and take, back and forth, shifting tides, blah, blah, blah. There aren’t so many occasions where happenings speak for themselves. Therefore, St. Eve’s decision yesterday to include the so-called “ostrich instruction” is the trial’s Kodak moment. In her charge to the jury, the judge will explain that sticking your head in the sand and simply ignoring the implications of an allegedly illegal conveyance (the non-competes) amounts to consciousness of guilt. This so lowers the bar for conviction as to make the defence’s summation a form of legal limbo (I couldn’t resist). The defence immediately petitioned the judge to amend the instruction, thus confirming its dire implication. Even Mark Steyn had to admit it was a bad day for the defence, but only after excoriating the judge: “Given that three of the four defendants are foreigners and non-residents, and thus are not being tried by ‘a jury of their peers’ in any meaningful sense, I think Judge Amy should have made especial effort to set the bar fairly.” I’m tempted here to compare and contrast this with Steyn’s views on American foreign policy and its implications for the justice system as evidenced at Guantanamo, but far be it from me to add to his woes. The trial, as the Brits are wont to say, continues.

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Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

Posted on June 14, 2007 by Douglas Bell

In the run-up to summary arguments, the lawyers spent yesterday wrangling before the judge over what the jury can and can’t hear in the course of those summations. A minor but not insignificant victory for Jack Boultbee as St. Eve booted the government’s allegations of his aiding and abetting Black’s Polynesian fiasco. The Globe suggests this could be a harbinger, particularly for Kipnis’s efforts to have the charges summarily dismissed. The Star’s Rick Westhead leads off what will likely be an avalanche of where-we-stand summaries. Les jeux, however, sont still far from faits.

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Court Gestures

Posted on June 13, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Over the course of two days in and around Room 1241, there were several opportunities to view Lord Black in his somewhat captive state. He spoke twice: once to confirm publicly that he had in fact reviewed a document entered into evidence and the second time to waive his right to testify at trial. The rest of the time, he seemed to oscillate between engagement and remove. As his mien quickened, he displayed more and more of the theatrical quality that justifies his charismatic reputation. He’s obviously made an impression around the courtroom. While the press remains somewhat wary, Black has an easy, collegial, if slightly paternal, relation with several of the U.S. marshals who enforce the protocols in St. Eve’s courtroom. Walking out of court on Monday, he wrapped a paw around one, called him by name, and in a conspiratorial whisper asked, “Have you ever heard so much nonsense in your life?”

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Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

Posted on June 13, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Poor Alan Funk. Bad enough that he be mocked in court for accepting money (admittedly a lot) from the defence to provide expert testimony impeaching the government’s accusations of fraud. But then, adding insult to injury, while standing in the hall afterwards accepting the plaudits of his employers—“your testimony was fascinating in ways I never thought it would be”—he was set upon by a gaggle of mischievous journos, chief among them the scribbling set’s pied piper, the Star’s Rick Westhead. Making full use of his golly gee charm, Westhead informed Funk of the peanut gallery’s plays on his name. “Funkadelic.” “Dr. Funk.” “Grandmaster Funk.” Always the good sport, the decidedly unfunky accountant, who looks like Karl Rove and sounds like Gerald Ford, chimed in, “How about the Funkmeister?” The assembled wretches chortled in unison, all the while scribbling away the last measure of Funk’s dignity onto their collective notepad. Beyond that, today’s coverage splits between Funk and the end of the evidentiary phase.

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Prophet Motives

Posted on June 12, 2007 by Douglas Bell

A strange, at times dramatic, at times seriously tedious day started yesterday morning at 7 a.m. Fearful of being shunted off to watch closed-circuit TV, I made my way to Room 1241 some 90 minutes before the scheduled start. Finding the doors locked, I proceeded to rattle them in frustration. Peering through a glass aperture, I then spied a gowned figure working alone at the dais behind a computer console. On hearing the disturbance, her eyes shot up and, via a furrowed brow, Judge Amy St. Eve sent me beetling off in search of a coffee to kill time.

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Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

Posted on June 12, 2007 by Douglas Bell

As the trial moves into what could be the final day of testimony before summations, the British press continues to keep its hand in the game with a couple of reports, both filed from New York. The Telegraph recycles Paul Waldie’s report on the dismissed juror, while James Bone of the Times takes serious note of former Times man John O’Sullivan’s testimony. Regurgitated from wire copy, Bone reports an even exchange between Sussman and O’Sullivan as to whether the Amiel birthday bash was more business than pleasure, whereas the consensus in the courtroom suggested a clear KO for Sussman. Otherwise, today’s coverage is more or less split between evidence of a death threat against Conrad Black (thereby justifying his use of a private plane as essential to his security), the O’Sullivan testimony, and the somnolent renderings of the inaptly named fraud expert Alan Funk.

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Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

Posted on June 11, 2007 by Douglas Bell

The weekend saw a trickle of coverage highlighted by the usual downtime mischief-making. After an associate of Mark Kipnis revealed, “I would trust him with my life… Mark is totally law abiding and no one has ever hinted otherwise,” Rick Westhead, in the Saturday Star, wondered whether Conrad Black might roll out a stream of witnesses testifying to his decency and law-abiding ways.

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Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

Posted on June 8, 2007 by Douglas Bell

As always, rather a lot of what’s interesting about Conrad Black is happening outside Room 1241. Like two lions somewhat in winter, Jean Chrétien and his Lordship pawed at each other from afar yesterday in an effort to open some old wounds. The Post reports that the promotional bumph heralding the fall publication of the former PM’s memoirs includes a reference to Conrad Black asking Chrétien, in the midst of their set-to over his ascendance to the House of Lords, whether his sitting as a Liberal in the Senate might assuage Chrétien’s misgivings. Needless to say, Chrétien is (as always) settling scores. That Black would plead for a Liberal seat in the Senate rather puts paid to the sincerity of his principled indignation at the PM blocking his way to the Lords.

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Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

Posted on June 7, 2007 by Douglas Bell

The prosecution and defence, having executed as best they could their preconceived strategies through the middle rounds, are now staggering toward the end of a 10-round prelim, each looking to throw a haymaker or leave some lasting impression in the minds of the ringside judges, er, jurors. For the defence, there was the possibility of the consistent crowd-pleaser known as Donald “The Fighting Comb-over” Trump, then Radler vs. Eddie 2, and now we await word on Healy Revisited and Kipnis Unleashed. For the prosecution, it was the effort to introduce into evidence the Roosevelt papers, but late last night, Amy (“The Judge”) St. Eve put paid to that pleading. So it’s down to a last welter of experts and worthies, with the defence looking to wrap up by early next week. The Globe’s Paul Waldie notes that if St. Eve cuts Kipnis loose before it all goes to the jury, his fellow combatants will lose the benefit of some heavyweight witnesses pulled together by Kipnis’s able lawyer, Ronald Safer:

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The Prosecution Rests

Posted on June 7, 2007 by Roger Martin

So the prosecution finished its case last week at the Black trial. I am glad: it was running out of steam. It finished on the same theme: Conrad Black spends lavishly and treats shareholders with profound disrespect. There were e-mails from Black to various folks sniping at and snipping about dissident shareholders. Then the prosecution wound up the week by dropping its charge of money laundering.

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The Courtstalker, Part V

Posted on June 6, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Another report from our man in the Everett McKinley Dirksen Building, 219 South Dearborn Street, Chicago:

I had a pleasant chat outside the courtroom yesterday with Barbara Amiel. We discussed her preferences in broadcast media. She claims to enjoy watching Newsworld (one of precious few, I can assure you, outside the nation’s catatonia wards) and has it playing in her bathroom on Park Lane Circle. Not a CBC Radio fan, she gets her radio news from the BBC, which she nonetheless reviles for its shameless and persistent left-wing bias. On other fronts, reports around the courthouse have it that within the last week or so Black, seeking divine intervention, dined with the Catholic Archbishop of Chicago. Black’s petitions in this regard are likely still pending.

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Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

Posted on June 6, 2007 by Douglas Bell

The jurors—lucky sods—got a day off today while Black’s lawyers appealed (unsuccessfully) to Judge Amy St. Eve to return David Radler to the stand. Meanwhile, outside Room 1241, the Globe reports this morning that Sotheby’s is firing back aggressively in its litigation with his Lordship over the commission owing on the sale of his much discussed New York digs. Black, you’ll recall, claims Sotheby’s entered into a conspiracy with the buyers to alert the government to the closing. The money was thereby seized, which, from Black’s point of view, nullified the deal. Sotheby’s vehemently denies any such skulduggery, suggesting that Black’s beef is with the U.S., and in the meantime where’s our $557,000? It’s always dangerous to read too much into this stuff, but the timing of the motion to dismiss Black’s complaint suggests piling on, a signal perhaps that Sotheby’s is sensing Black’s possible demise and thinking best get while the getting is good. Or, like a lot of things surrounding this trial, not.

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Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

Posted on June 5, 2007 by Douglas Bell

If scathing contempt for this mockery (or whatever) is your bag, there’s plenty to hold your interest this morning. Where to start? In the whimpers-not-bangs department, there’s the defence seeking to recall David Radler in an effort to catch him in a lie. This is rather like catching the sun rising in the east and will, in the mind of the jury, fall somewhere between “Spare us” and “Sweet Jesus, take me now.” Filed under “I,” for “I just buried an ice pick in my head,” rests the litany of expensive items owned by Black drawn out by the prosecution from the testimony of a defence witness who was called to refute the argument that Black profited criminally from the flip of his New York apartment. It’s the trial’s Dennis Kozlowski moment, and the Eddies have no other Eddies to blame but themselves. Speaking of which, “sources say” that the decision to leave Donny Haircut on the bench came after the sombre second thought that the circus accompanying his arrival would undermine the credibility of his evidence.

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Ken and Barbie

Posted on June 5, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Yesterday morning, The New York Times ran one of those on-the-one-hand-on-the-other-hand articles meant to reinforce the idea that all human discourse finds its ultimate expression in its pages. The piece explored the “conflict issues” dogging Maclean’s effort to be an “impartial chronicler” of the Conrad Black trial, specifically its ongoing use of Barbara Amiel as a columnist, Mark Steyn as a blogger, and the appearance for the defence of editor-publisher Ken Whyte. The Times writer dug up a journalism ethics expert who assured us that:

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Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

Posted on June 4, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Oh, what might have been. I remember having the same giddy feeling at the prospect of seeing Emerson Lake & Palmer back-to-back with the Electric Light Orchestra. Or was it Yes with Genesis? I can’t remember. At any rate, today’s proceedings in Chicago might have been the double bill of the century: Maclean’s editor Ken Whyte paired with none other than The Donald. I wonder what they might have said to each other in the antechamber. Such are the great mysteries on which history turns. But alas, despite much ballyhoo, The Donald was a no-show.

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Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

Posted on June 1, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Reports today focused on Joan Maida, the Black secretary who couldn’t keep her story straight as to who packed the boxes and for what reason and when. There was also the troubling question of who or what Conrad Black was pointing at in the video. The sinister implication: his pointing at the camera somehow betrays a guilty conscience. Maida, ever the loyal adjutant, suggested another possible explanation: “It looks like he’s pointing at me.” She later recanted. “You know what, I don’t know.” Had she added the words “and I don’t care,” my guess is she’d have received a spontaneous standing ovation.

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Conflict Resolution

Posted on June 1, 2007 by Douglas Bell

One of the stranger moments in the trial arrived yesterday, when Maclean’s editor Ken Whyte took the stand as a witness for the defence. Today, as expected, Maclean’s blogger, and Whyte's employee, Mark Steyn commented on Whyte’s performance as a witness. In short, Whyte paid Steyn to write about Whyte. The sheer craziness of all this amounts to what the rubes call “conflict of interest.” Even as I write this, I can see in my mind’s eye the postmodern media cognoscenti rolling their eyes and staring at their watches, all the while muttering under their breath, “Well, I suppose.”

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