Spectator

May 2008 Archive

Media commentary can still surprise

Posted on May 30, 2008 by

Media commentary—whether it’s Gawker, Michael Wolf, Noam Chomsky or little old indispensable me—has a tendency toward (how to put this delicately?) apocalyptic gloom mongering. But every so often there’s a bright moment that reminds you why you’d rather eat your cat than miss the morning paper. My latest reminder came on page B13 of this morning’s New York Times. Some time ago, the Times started including little editorial comments to explain the ratings of the movies they review. Beneath a glowing review (Toronto Life’s review gave it zero stars, FYI) of a thriller-horror flick titled The Strangers we find in italics the following: “‘The Strangers” is rated R (under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian) Coitus is interruptus and killing is not”

CityTV celebrates Ted Rogers’ 75th birthday by flouting journalistic standards

Posted on May 29, 2008 by

Canada’s idea of a media mogul (i.e., bland and ruthless), billionaire Ted Rogers (number 173 on the Forbes list, with seven-odd billion dollars), turned 75 years old on Tuesday. Rogers still makes news, and his pursuit of an NFL franchise for Toronto is one of the big business and sports stories of the moment. So when CityTV’s Web site decides to cover its owner’s birthday, while it’s a stretch, it does not beggar all credulity. If you were expecting a bland, pleasantly inoffensive statement of fact, much in keeping with the man himself, then you’d be wrong. CityTV provided a jaw-dropping hagiographic blow job that makes Mark Steyn’s coverage of Conrad Black look like All the President’s Men.

What a difference a year makes for Eddie Greenspan

Posted on May 28, 2008 by

While Garth Drabinsky struggles mightily to remain among the unconvicted and non-felonious, the man making his case is in something of a battle of his own. Through the course of the Conrad Black trial, Edward Greenspan’s reputation as Canada’s defence attorney nonpareil took a ferocious beating. Leaving aside his client’s conviction, the much-publicized antipathy between himself and the jury, and his often rancorous relations with lawyers for Black’s co-accused, there still remains outstanding, as a matter of public record (courtesy Mark Steyn and Maclean’s), the accusation that he and Ed Genson (Black’s co-counsel) each demanded a substantial extra payment on the eve of closing arguments. So, in seeking to afford Drabinsky the best defence possible, Eddie, like a relief pitcher coming off a particularly severe shelling, is looking to impress on this, his next trip to the mound.

Greenspan treats Eckstein like so much Radler

Posted on May 27, 2008 by

At the trial of Garth Drabinsky yesterday, Eddie Greenspan began his cross-examination of the Crown’s star witness, former Livent senior VP of finance Gordon Eckstein. And from all reports, it was Radler redux, as Eddie accused Drabinsky of everything short of sacking Rome. To wit, reported The Globe and Mail:

On the hook for Conrad Black’s legal bills

Posted on May 26, 2008 by

There’s a thick vein of irony running through the tortuously long odyssey of United States v. Conrad Black, et al. And with the final chapter to be written June 5 (when oral arguments are made before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals), Judge Leo Strine of the Delaware Court of Chancery offers one of the richest paradoxes to date. Strine, you might remember, effectively blocked Black’s efforts to sell the Telegraph out from under Hollinger International shareholders. Regarding that case of corporate litigation, Strine wrote: “It became almost impossible for me to credit his word…. I found Black evasive and unreliable. His explanations of key events and of his own motivations do not have the ring of truth.”

Toro rides again

Posted on May 23, 2008 by

Wednesday saw the launch—or, more precisely, the relaunch—of Toromagazine.com. Toro, you might remember, was a National Magazine Award–winning men’s magazine distributed through subscriber copies of The Globe and Mail between 2003 and 2007. Toro was beautifully designed and well written, covering a lot of journalistic ground in unexpected ways (Gare Joyce’s profile of Michael Ignatieff was, and probably is, the most original take on Macbeth along the Rideau to date). And it did all this without ceding any ground as a stylin’ men’s mag. It was a community of writers, editors, designers, illustrators and photographers (of which I’m proud to say—full disclosure—I was one). The contributors were likely names that, if you’re Canadian, you’ve heard before: Derek Finkle, Graham Roumieu, Charles Foran, Mark Kingwell, Mark Schatzker, Russell Smith, and the wonderfully monikered sex columnist Bebe O’Shea (actually playwright Claudia Dey).

Drabinsky trial inspires various takes on the F-bomb

Posted on May 22, 2008 by

The word fuck had a red-letter outing in yesterday afternoon’s Web reports of the goings-on at the Drabinsky trial. All told, the king of all obscenity found its way into three stories eight times, with only the Globe daring to spell it out in full, while the Star and Post opted for the more genteel f**k.

In defence of Mark Steyn

Posted on May 21, 2008 by

A couple of weeks ago, I reported in this space about Mark Steyn’s appearance at Indigo’s Bay and Bloor store, during which Heather Reisman interviewed him. I suggested the event might better have been titled “White Guys’ Night Out” or some such, and played it mostly for laughs. The story picked up again yesterday, when the National Post featured an op-ed by left-coast writer Terry O’Neill on the subject of Macleans’—and by extension, Mark Steyn’s—upcoming trial before the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal (a discrimination complaint brought “on behalf of Muslim residents in the province of British Columbia” that will be heard on June 2). O’Neill reminds us that when you defend free speech, you’re doing it for everyone. Or, in the words of Noam Chomsky: “If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.”

Livent bosses robbed Show Boat to pay Ragtime

Posted on May 21, 2008 by

Gordon Eckstein’s version of Livent’s accounting practices reminds me more and more each day of a punchline from the Marx Brothers movie Duck Soup: the Minister of Finance says, “Here is the Treasury Department’s report, sir. I hope you’ll find it clear.” To which Rufus T. Firefly replies, “Why, a four-year-old child could understand this report. Run out and find me a four-year-old child—I can’t make head or tail of it.”

“Legal problems” may delay Conrad Black’s memoir of his legal problems

Posted on May 20, 2008 by

There are rumours floating around concerning delays in the publishing date for Conrad Black’s much-ballyhooed trial memoir The Fight of My Life. Until as recently as last week, his Lordship’s publisher, McClelland & Stewart president Douglas Pepper, was saying the doorstopper would be out this October. However, a source close to Black reports that “legal problems” could push it out a year to fall 2009. Black’s busy litigation schedule may have something to do with it.

Yanks trump Canucks on bloggish hockey coverage

Posted on May 20, 2008 by

OK, this isn’t exactly earth-shattering news, but if you care at all about hockey in the frozen north, it’s a bit of a head scratcher. Throughout the International Ice Hockey Federation championship final on Sunday, it was the New York Times that offered the only live blog during the game.

Montrealer Autumn Kelly marries into the royal family tomorrow, and the press’s reaction is as classy as ringette

Posted on May 16, 2008 by

image for Montrealer Autumn Kelly marries into the royal family tomorrow, and the press’s reaction is as classy as ringette

What is it about the Anglo-Canadian fascination with aristocracy that puts everyone in a flap at the first sign of pretense? When Conrad Lord Black of Crossharbour was sent down for thievery, Canadian and British papers hadn’t spilled that much ink on a single story since D-Day. And this morning arrives an e-mail from the reliably snarky Andrew Clark, The Guardian’s business correspondent in NYC. He begins in typically deadpan prose: “I am rejoicing at the new link between our two nations which will be forged at tomorrow’s royal wedding. No doubt you will be glued to the BBC World Service.”

Toronto Star editors asleep at the switch

Posted on May 15, 2008 by

image for Toronto Star editors asleep at the switch



Star on the march—the annals of editing: in an otherwise tedious exercise in dull normal reportage (Shania Twain is getting separated blah-dee-blah), an editor at the Toronto Star (or was it a writer looking for a buyout?) inadvertently added a line for the ages. The piece appeared this afternoon on their Web site and will surely be taken down by the time you read this. In the interest of amusement and giggles, though, we’ve saved it so that future generations might know the truth.

Today’s Livent verdict: Blue pens are very popular

Posted on May 15, 2008 by

As the Livent saga grinds on, the analogy I drew between Livent accountant Gordon Eckstein and Hollinger turncoat David Radler is being proven in spades—with one significant enhancement. Where Radler based his entire testimony on his recollection of a series of phone calls with the accused (Conrad Black), Eckstein is snaking his way through a positively Amazonian paper trail that leads to and from the desk of Garth Drabinsky. And, natch, it all suggests an accounting fraud that makes the shilly-shallyings of our old pal Jack Boultbee pale in comparison.

Livent trial revelations: Cooked books rooks schnooks

Posted on May 15, 2008 by

He’s a lot taller, rather more phlegmatic, and considerably more fragrant (having applied substantial splashes of eau de something), but Livent’s former VP finance Gordon Eckstein had about him more than a whiff of David Radler when he walked into court yesterday to testify against his erstwhile bosses Garth Drabinsky and Myron Gottlieb. The examination—in chief carried out with brisk efficiency by the Crown’s lead prosecutor, Robert Hubbard—directed Eckstein to tell the court that though he was the one who cooked Livent’s books, he did so at the behest of Drabinsky and Gottlieb (both of whom were sitting not 20 feet away).

Greenspans initiate Radler redux at Livent trial

Posted on May 14, 2008 by

For those of us who sat through the trial of Conrad Black, yesterday afternoon at the Livent fraud trial was a trip down memory lane. Eddie Greenspan (acting for Garth Drabinsky) took over the cross-examination of former Livent contractor Peter Kofman from his brother Brian (acting for the co-accused, Myron Gottlieb). In what was clearly a warm-up for the main event, the cross-examination of former Livent senior VP finance Gordon Eckstein (playing, for the purposes of this trial, the role of David Radler), Eddie and Brian led Kofman through a series of questions meant to portray Eckstein—in the words of one press gallery wag—“in horns and a tail.”

Jonathan Black makes his courthouse appearance

Posted on May 13, 2008 by

Courtroom 111 at Toronto’s Old City Hall at 9 a.m. on a Monday is a scene straight out of Dickens. The room is jammed to the rafters with criminal lawyers, their clients, various levels of legal bureaucracy, overstuffed file folders and other assorted hangers-on (i.e., me). In the midst of this cattle call was the case of Her Majesty vs. Jonathan Black—one of three heirs to what’s left of Lord Black’s fortune. In a short, sharp exchange between the court and young Black’s representative, the case was held over until May 26.

Day two of Her Majesty the Queen vs. Drabinsky and Gottlieb

Posted on May 12, 2008 by

What started as a tedious prologue transformed, in a flash, into a testy rough-and-tumble drama. The shift in tone was undeniably due to today’s introduction of Peter Kofman, Livent’s contractor, whose job throughout the ’90s was to renovate and build the theatrical palazzos that housed various Phantoms, Showboats and Sunset Boulevards. In a mood that might best be described as somewhere between abysmal and exasperated, Kofman testified on the Crown’s behalf regarding Livent’s accounting practices—practices that would have put a blush on even Max Bialystock’s face.

Commission and refute: The National Post celebrates Israel’s 60th by taking on its own writer

Posted on May 12, 2008 by

My pal Jeet Heer wrote me last week to point out the strange treatment the National Post gave his op-ed on Israel, a piece the editors of the Post commissioned to help mark the 60th anniversary of the Jewish state. Knowing his views, Post editors specifically asked Heer to write a piece that would run contrary to the paper’s oft-stated position that Israel can do no (or very little) wrong. Jeet agreed—“reluctantly”—to write it in his own words. The op-ed came out last Tuesday, with preludes announcing that the “National Post editorial board” would be running an accompanying unsigned editorial “refuting Mr. Heer’s conclusions.”

SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR’S NOTE

Posted on May 12, 2008 by

Due to a technical error all comments in the previous thread were accidentally deleted late in the afternoon on Saturday, May 10. Toronto Life regrets the error and apologizes for any inconvenience this may have caused.

White men cheer for Mark Steyn at Bay and Bloor

Posted on May 9, 2008 by

You can’t swing a cat in this town without hitting Heather Reisman interviewing some author. Such events usually go down at Indigo Books (where lately it seems she’s the CEO, picks the books, arranges the floor displays, sweeps the floor, changes the light bulbs and sews the employee smocks), and last night, at the Bay and Bloor location, the author in question was the ubiquitous Mark Steyn. He was there to plug his much discussed book America Alone, and held forth in front of a jam-packed audience of mostly white men on his general discomfort with and disdain for the Muslim world and multiculturalism. He espoused what he called a “natalist” policy for Canada—i.e. Canadians should produce more babies, thereby vitiating the need for immigration—and something about “telescoping” our educable years, presumably so as to free up time for more babymaking.

Signs of the times

Posted on May 8, 2008 by

image for Signs of the times


For some years now, on a wall beside the back entrance to Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children (what used to be the emergency entrance), near the corner of Gerrard and University, steps from the Children’s Healing Garden, have hung three fast food logos: one for Tim Hortons, one for Soup It Up and one for Burger King. These signs serve two purposes. They signal that those three franchises have outlets inside the hospital and act as de facto promotions for the products served therein. Now, I can live with Soup It Up and Tim Hortons. Soup is generally thought to be both nourishing and comforting; Tim Hortons is Tim Hortons, a wellspring of coffee and doughnuts. Double-doubles and sprinkles are bad for you, sure, yet so elementally native that Tim Hortons might as well serve up portions of the Canadian Shield. That leaves Burger King. Let me put this as plainly as I can: much of what Burger King serves is unhealthy. So why do they have a franchise serving food inside a hospital aimed at promoting and propagating health among children? (The fact that Burger King supported the endowment of a chair in critical care at the hospital only raises my eyebrow all the more.)

New York’s newspaper war shifts its battleground from Manhattan to Myanmar

Posted on May 7, 2008 by

In keeping a weather eye on the ongoing newspaper war over New York, today’s front pages of the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times are instructive. The Journal, given its earlier deadlines, led with the Myanmar cyclone and, for cover art, used a map to illustrate the extent of the damage. The Times split its headlines between last night’s primaries and the cyclone, giving more coverage to the former and devoting its art to Obama and Clinton. Initially, it bothered me that the Times would give more prime real estate to a parochial political story. Then I got into their coverage and my head turned round.

Conrad Black’s legal tormentor gets new job, salary bump

Posted on May 7, 2008 by

The Chicago Tribune notes today that Conrad Black’s tormentor-in-chief, Eric Sussman, has moved on to head up the regulatory enforcement and white-collar litigation practice at Chicago firm Kaye Scholer, a top-tier U.S. litigation shop. Sussman is all atwitter at his new prospects and considerable salary bump:

Theatre puns running low among journos at Drabinsky-Gottlieb trial

Posted on May 6, 2008 by

This country’s most famous and fabulous theatre impresario and his long-time partner went on trial for fraud yesterday morning in a large, airy courtroom (under an enormous coat of arms featuring a lion and a unicorn and the words Dieu et mon droit) on the fourth floor at 361 University Avenue—a mere driver and a wedge from the theatres that made Garth Drabinsky famous. The setting was likely a little dull for Garth’s taste. He did look good: tan and fit in a snappy check suit, with that insane shag carpet still growing out the top of his head. There were the usual oyeh, oyeh, oyehs, followed by the introduction of the Crown and its opponents, the Greenspan brothers.

Cue the madness—Drabinsky and Gottlieb are now on trial

Posted on May 5, 2008 by

After a mere decade of delays and distractions, former theatre impresario and alleged fraudster Garth Drabinsky will finally see the inside of a Canadian courtroom. He and his Livent Inc. partner Myron Gottlieb are facing criminal charges before Ontario Superior Court Judge Mary Lou Benotto—she of the tainted blood trial. Reporting on CBC Radio this morning, Mike Hornbrook pointed out that it’s considered “Canada’s largest ever prosecution of corporate fraud”—a good thing, too, considering the Americans were ready to prosecute these two as long ago as 1999. Unlike their former board member Conrad Black, Gottlieb and Drabinsky had the good sense to hole up in Canada and wait for the RCMP to conduct its investigation (an indictment took three years). As for the subsequent delay in the case coming to trial, Drabinsky can thank (in part) a certain aforementioned peer of the realm: the Crown was only too happy to accommodate Eddie Greenspan’s crowded calendar as he flew about the continent defending Black.

Miller vs. Johnson in Spectator’s first blond-off

Posted on May 2, 2008 by

image for Miller vs. Johnson in Spectator’s first blond-off

It works for Fox News; why can’t it work for us? We report, you decide. Whose hair is more—how to put it?—blindingly blond? The nearly minted mayor of London, Boris Johnson, or Hogtown’s own two-term pasha, David Miller? Either one would put Marilyn Monroe to shame, so we leave it to you. Who among these peroxide twins is likely to have more fun?

Conrad Black’s spirits downgraded from ‘happy’ to ‘healthy’ despite attending prison seminars on American politics

Posted on May 2, 2008 by

A smattering of news on the Conrad Black front this morning. Last evening, Patrick Fitzgerald et al. responded to Andrew Frey’s pleading that the Hollinger four’s conviction be set aside in a 127-page brief. June 5 has been set as the date for oral arguments before the 7th Circuit with a final decision expected in the fall.

The selective sympathies of Christie Blatchford

Posted on May 2, 2008 by

Christie Blatchford’s selective sympathies and predilection for men in uniform is fodder for much water cooler criticism both in and out of the scribbling trades. But in all my time observing the Globe scribe’s commentary—and particularly in view of my interest in her on-again, off-again empathy/sympathy for Conrad Black—I’ve never seen anything quite as brazen as her recent columns on Robert Baltovich (April 24) and Paul Croutch (May 1).

Requiem for a newspaper: The Wall Street Journal falls into the Murdoch trap

Posted on May 1, 2008 by

Flipping the Rolodex of descriptors this morning, I pause at P for “plus ça change” and W for “waddya think was going to happen?” Rupert Murdoch has pulled the wool yet again. The Times and the Journal have been full of stories this week suggesting that the WSJ’s new owner is interfering with his newspaper’s editorial independence—first by foisting changes so that it might compete more directly with The New York Times (more politics, shorter stories), then by firing the ancien régime editor Marcus Brauchli, who wasn’t moving fast enough to make those changes. And this time, Rupe’s chinless, coupon-clipping victims (the Bancroft family) are so thoroughly bumfuzzled that it barely merits the usual blah blah blah about history repeating itself first as tragedy, then…oh, you know the drill.