Ravening media wolves were salivating over the bones of former media mogul Conrad Black, but he departed a Chicago courtroom with dignity while they were still rooting for toothpicks.
Why is it that it is always those least affected by a controversy who are the ones with the most to say?
Checking in from Saturday’s Globe and Mail, Margaret Wente wrote a column headlined, “The revenge of Conrad Black”, which would have been more honestly titled “The revenge of Margaret Wente”.
In a satirical attempt at a media apology to Black she wrote, “Please forgive us. The envious, spiteful media mob was wrong, wrong, wrong about you all along. We hereby take it back. You are not a corporate kleptocrat...P.S. A lot of us bet that Barbara would dump you, but she didn’t. We’re sorry about that too.”
Following that gem of satire, Wente got serious.
“I came to know Conrad Black, during the years he wrote a monthly column for the Globe’s Report on Business magazine, of which I was the editor,” Wente wrote, recalling that “his force of character was so overwhelming that once, when he demanded a raise, I actually gave it to him, even though he already made more than any other columnist we had.”
Hard to understand how you could “come to know” someone who files monthly columns for a magazine, or how anyone could blame Black for being so overwhelming that it capitulated a pay master.
The news of Conrad Black’s release on bail came as good news to this corner which always felt he was innocent of anything for which he was charged, save for having a wont to tongue lash the lib-left mainstream media.
Even financially drained by lawsuits and with assets seized by the American government, Black has never given up in fighting to overturn his 2007 conviction for defrauding investors in the Hollinger Media Group of more than $6 million.
While I was more awed than intimidated by him, I too knew Conrad Black, having once had the honour of being asked by him to help write a speech he made to the Canadian Club.
In the long ago days when I was education columnist at the Toronto Sun, Barbara Amiel wrote about me in an effort to promote my columns against the New Democrat Party-controlled Toronto Board of Education, which was more into politics than educating school children.
The calendar moves up to a year ago when Toronto friends visiting from Washington, DC told me of a visit they had paid Barbara in Palm Beach, Florida.
“She wanders around like a ghost in their Palm Beach house. She misses him so much,” was the description of Barbara Amiel Black’s life without her husband.
Yesterday as he waited for the court session to begin, Black smiled at his wife. Amiel watched from the bench as his lawyer explained that his client would like to go to his home in Toronto, as his wife had some health issues which made their Palm Beach house in Florida an unsuitable location during the summer period.
Judge Amy St. Eve said she would like more details about Black’s financial situation before deciding if he could return to Canada.
Conrad Black and Barbara Amiel left the courtroom holding hands.
Countless stories have been written pondering how Conrad Black held up during two years in prison.
Those closest to him know that it was both his faith in the Almighty, which long precedes his life behind bars, and his abiding love for the one BBC News describes as his “elegant” wife.
These days, faith in God and spousal love are as foreign to the mainstream media as fairness and balance.
Judi McLeod——
Bio and Archives
-- Judi McLeod, Founder, Owner and Editor of Canada Free Press, is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years’ experience in the print and online media. A former Toronto Sun columnist, she also worked for the Kingston Whig Standard. Her work has appeared throughout the ‘Net, including on Rush Limbaugh and Fox News.
