Hollinger's Neoconservative Scandal

Hollinger International Inc., a newspaper publisher caught up in a widening financial scandal, is looking into an investment the company made to a venture capital fund with links to neoconservative defense adviser Richard Perle and Henry Kissinger, both directors of the company. The investigation is part of a wider probe at the company which has already resulted in the resignation of several senior executives, including Canadian-born press baron Conrad Black as Hollinger International's CEO. However, Black remains chairman and controlling shareholder of the Chicago-based company, which publishes the Chicago Sun-Times, The Daily Telegraph in London and The Jerusalem Post. Hollinger International is also reviewing its annual contribution of some $200,000 to The National Interest, a conservative quarterly magazine that also has links to Perle and Kissinger. According to PR Week, Hollinger has hired Bell Pottinger Communications in the UK and Kekst and Company in New York to handle the public relations fallout from the scandal.