February 8, 2012

Should Lord Black be allowed back?

Five experts sound off on how Conrad can repair his reputation

FORGET BUSINESS, FOCUS ON BOOKS
Nothing Conrad Black could do will rehabilitate him in the eyes of his detractors, but the good news is he has no need to return to previous summits as a businessman. He is a successful author. His prison memoirs will sell well. He doesn’t need much more. Should he become a Canadian again? I was dead set against it, but increasingly I like the irony: the only reason he wants to return is that ours is a forgiving society, of the sort he disdained before he needed forgiveness.
Paul Wells, columnist, Maclean’s

BRING CITY TO BRIDLE PATH BBQ
My thought is that Lord Black has less work to do rehabilitating his reputation as an honest man — I think most people know the charges were trumped up, as has been demonstrated by his successful appeal. But he may have a job convincing Canadians of his love for his home and native land, given the haste with which he gave up his Canadian citizenship. If I were him, I’d host a giant BBQ next Canada Day on the Bridle Path, invite the whole city and toast his return home with Tim Hortons and Molson Canadian.
John Ivison, political columnist, National Post

WIN SUPPORT WITH WIN IN COURT
The surest way for Conrad Black to burnish his image and silence his most boisterous critics is to win his full appeal in Chicago. He will never be retried, and his vindication will represent a stunning victory over a juggernaut, the U.S. justice system. He will also be on the next Air Canada flight to Pearson Airport with his wife, Barbara Amiel, and will regain his Canadian passport by Christmas.
Steven Skurka, author, Tilted: The Trial of Conrad Black

MAKE MEXICO TRIP, EMBRACE SILENCE
Black shouldn’t be allowed back. He isn’t a citizen and he’s a criminal; I don’t want the man even visiting. But since he does seem to want to return to the country he despises, there are things he could do to make himself less irritating. He could go to a retreat in New Mexico — there are hundreds of them — and spend an entire month in silence. I know people who have done it and they return placid and taciturn, if not silent. They weigh their words, they speak simply. A Conrad hushed and drained. Imagine that.
Heather Mallick, columnist, Toronto Star

SHUT UP AND EXPOSE AMERICAN SYSTEM
This will not come easily to Conrad Black, but for now, the former press baron has to shut up. Should the court rule against him, there is very little he can do to rebuild his reputation. Should the court find in his favour, he has more opportunities. He would be well advised to do a book that exposes the excesses of the American system and includes the stories of others, not just his own. With the book as a launching pad, he should do a cross-continent book and lecture tour with a heavy emphasis on earned media. From there, he should emerge as a champion of the system’s victims, using his position of wealth and privilege to prevent a recurrence of what happened to him happening to others.
Jaime Watt, chair, Navigator (Michael Bryant’s PR firm)

This article appears in the September 2010 issue of Post City Magazines

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