On Jeremy Paxman’s interview with Conrad Black: What do you think?
Conrad Black is proud that he has emerged from his conviction and imprisonment in a manner that allowed him to “endure a discussion like this without getting up and smashing your face in.”
What do you think of the interview?
Conrad Black is proud that he has emerged from his conviction and imprisonment in a manner that allowed him to “endure a discussion like this without getting up and smashing your face in.”
The discussion in question is one he had with BBC Newsnight’s Jeremy Paxman, broadcast yesterday, in which Black slammed the U.S. justice system and then Paxman, who repeatedly referred to Black as a “convicted criminal.”
“No, you’re a fool. You’re a gullible fool. You’re a priggish, gullible British fool who takes seriously this ghastly American justice system that any sane English person knows is an outrage,” Black said to Paxman after the interviewer challenged Black, a member of the British House of Lords, on his 2007 conviction on three counts of fraud related to the company he led, Hollinger International, and one count of obstruction of justice.
“You see Jeremy, your problem is you have no idea how that system operates,” Black said during the interview, which National Post’s Josh Visser points out he was on as part of a series of interviews about his new book A Matter of Principle, which discusses his experience with the U.S. justice system.
“You’re the one who chose to locate his business there,” Paxman retorted.
[node:ad]“I did,” Black conceded. “I made a mistake. I underestimated the venality and corruption of the American legal system.”
The interview can be found in full on the BBC’s website, or here, below. (Paxman’s interview with Black begins shortly after the 4-minute mark. Things begin to get heated just before the 6-minute mark.)
What do you think of the interview? Of its combative nature? Of Paxman’s interview techniques? Let us know in the comments below.
