Society of the Silurians ANNUAL JOURNALISM AWARDS DINNER The National Arts Club 15 Gramercy Park South Wednesday, May 17, 2017 Published by The Society of The Silurians, Inc., an organization Drinks: 6 P.M. • Dinner: 7:15 P.M. Meet old friends and award winners of veteran journalists founded in 1924 [email protected]

MAY 2017 Silurians Celebrate The Best BY MICHAEL SERRILL relationship. The Record wins three Medal- t’s hardly surprising that Donald lions and three Merit certificates. Trump finds his way into some The paper provided its readers with Icompelling winners of the Soci- exemplary coverage of the Sept. 29 ety of Silurians Excellence in Journal- Hoboken Terminal train crash, of ism awards. But more stunning is the patient abuses at the Bergen County broad sweep of vivid, moving stories Medical Center, and of issues sur- and photography that illuminates rounding transgender youth. coverage of a Hoboken train crash Other big winners include Vanity and Chelsea bombing, the harrow- Fair, which wins in three of the mag- ing years in a Riker’s solitary cell azine categories, and The New York for a mentally challenged girl, the Daily News and Associated Press, worlds of transgender youths, and which each take home two Medal- how the children of 9/11 cope with lions, with the News also winning their losses. two Merit awards and the AP one. ’s and The But the biggest winner of all—in Record of northern New Jersey dom- terms of his impact on journalism—is inated the contest for news coverage Anthony Mancini, honored this year in 2016. Medallions and Merit Cer- with the Peter Kihss Award for his tificates will be awarded in 21 print, career mentoring younger journal- broadcast and online categories at the ists, first as a reporter for the old New Silurians’ annual awards dinner May York Post, and for many years now as 17 at the National Arts Club. a professor in the Brooklyn College The Silurians are not novices at journalism program. this awards business. The first honors This year’s Dennis Duggan Me- were handed out in 1945, 72 years morial Scholarship Award, given ago. The club was founded in 1924. Ryan McGowan, the child of a 9/11 victim, wants no one to forget. annually to a student at the CUNY At the dinner, Newsday will take Graduate School of Journalism for away five Medallions and 2 Merit outstanding coverage of New York, certificates. Two Medallions are for The Children of 9/11, Now Adults goes to Will Mathis, whose journal- its coverage of the Tardif twins— BY JENNIFER PELTZ for them. ism career started in Paraguay, and one for Feature Photography, the ASSOCIATED PRESS More than 3,000 children and young who in addition to writing stellar other for Multimedia Presentation. September 8, 2016 adults lost a parent in the deadliest terror pieces for his school, strings for the Each tells the story in uniquely attack on American soil, instantly becom- Associated Press. different fashions of two brothers, EW YORK (AP) — They were ing known as the children of 9/11. The award winners, citations and one a star athlete, the other afflicted kids, or not even born yet, As the 15th anniversary of the attacks some samples of their work begin with cerebral palsy, and their special Nwhen America’s heart broke Continued on Page 2 on Page 4. Dennis Duggan Award: Peter Kihss Award: Will Mathis—Winner Winner — Tony Mancini BY DEBORAH STEAD BY CLYDE HABERMAN ill Mathis is the recipient of n his two decades as a reporter this year’s Dennis Duggan at The New York Post, there was Wprize, awarded annually to Ilittle of the human comedy that a student at the CUNY Graduate School eluded Anthony Mancini. He covered of Journalism who excels at covering the United Nations and presidential ordinary New Yorkers. campaigns, Off-Broadway plays and the The 28-year-old Mathis – who is a circus, Senate hearings and national po- stringer for AP – drew a Bronx beat litical conventions. Sports was the only during his first semester at the J-School. department at The Post not graced with He wrote about borough residents like his talents. And naturally, working for a Leonardo Barrera, a recent immigrant tabloid, he wrote about crime and grime from the Dominican Republic who was and courts, which meant he chronicled taking his first bus ride (on the BX12) almost every nook and cranny of the to his first job in the United States. On city, including a few crooks and nannies. Election Day, he reported from a polling In time, Tony’s interests turned else- site in Parkchester, where voters waited where, including fiction writing. He has in long lines to cast their ballots. City written seven novels and two historical Limits published both pieces. Photo by Marco Poggio novels. He came to that craft well-pre- ANTHONY MANCINI His stories for AP included a January WILL MATHIS pared. “I never could have written any 2017 article filed from JFK airport, he was the most active student volun- fiction,” he said, “without having had works, which you learn as a reporter.” where he interviewed the families of teer for the Hate Index, the project at the experience of general assignment re- Tony is this year’s recipient of the Si- people detained after arriving from the J-School’s NYCity News Service porter. That really gave me the empirical lurians’ Peter Kihss Award, named for a nations targeted by President Donald that tracks post-election incidents of underpinnings for writing verisimilitude titan of New York journalism. From one Trump’s travel ban. The story was picked intolerance. and setting scenes – all the ins and outs angle, he is an unusual winner, having up all over the world. At the same time, Continued on Page 2 of how things work, how the world Continued on Page 2 PAGE 2 SILURIAN NEWS MAY 2017 Peter Kihss Award: Winner — Tony Mancini President’s Report Continued from Page 1 renewal every semester,” he said. “I Guignol stories, the stories that have been away from daily newspapering for have another crop of souls to corrupt.” sex and blood and gore. There’s nothing BY BERNARD KIRSCH nearly four full decades. But in more im- The basics of journalism do not wrong with that as long as you don’t portant respects, he is an ideal selection. change, even as it is jolted by fast-paced mess with the facts.” And, he said, “we his has been a stellar year Winners of the Kihss award are honored technology, he said. “You still have to did stick with the facts.” for our Silurians organi- in good measure for nurturing young make sure you get the story right, and Life at The Post wore thin for him zation. All seven of our talent. Few can claim to have done that get it quickly. That kind of thing never after Rupert Murdoch took over at the T longer, and with more lasting results, goes away. In fact, it gets more and more start of 1977. He and others from the luncheons, along with our lifetime achievement award dinner, filled than Tony, who is director of Brooklyn important as the technology forces peo- old regime found their copy being rou- the room at the National Arts Club, College’s journalism program and has ple into making rash decisions.” There tinely spiked by the new arrivals from taught there since 1980. is, however, one notable shift from his Australia and Britain. “It wasn’t the which next season will again be Take it from former students. early years at Brooklyn: “When I started Fleet Street style they wanted,” Tony our home. And now we have our “Without Tony I wouldn’t be in the teaching, my class was three-fourths said. He hung on for about a year and very special event, our Society of business—it’s just that simple,” said male and one-fourth female. Now it’s finally asked for a buyout, as others in Silurians Excellence in Journalism Glenn Thrush, who covers the Trump flipped.” the newsroom would soon rush to do as awards. And next, our final lun- White House for . Bronx-born, Tony graduated in 1961 well. The money was enough for a down cheon of the season, on June 21. Among the many lessons he learned from Fordham University, where he payment on an apartment in Tribeca, What made this such a special from Professor Mancini was that “ev- majored in communications arts – “a where he lives with his wife, the actress year for me was the quality of our erything you write, even a 300-word smorgasbord of playwriting, journal- Maria Cellario. They have a daughter, cop brief, should be accurate, acute and ism, news writing and radio reporting.” Romy, and a son, Nicholas. speakers—all delighted to be our alive.” Jennifer Steinhauer, who covers Even before graduation, he had begun By the time he left The Post, Tony guest. As our April speaker, Errol Congress for The Times, took Tony’s working at The Post as a copy boy on had begun writing novels, starting with Louis of NY1, wrote when i got in class when he worked for awhile at the the 1 a.m. to 8 a.m. lobster shift. He mysteries centered on a housewife in touch with him: “I’d be honored to School of Visual Arts. “He taught the shared the job with his identical twin, Little Italy named Minnie Santangelo, join you, of course. (Does anybody fundamentals that are so sadly lacking Joseph Mancini (who now, a former who falls into detective work—sort of ever say no?)” in the farm system of papers these days,” reporter himself, is a spokesman for the a Miss Marple with red sauce. Teach- Also saying “yes” this 2016-17 she said, and added, “He is also good Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association and ing sparked an interest in history that company, and was never cynical.” publishes its monthly magazine). The eventually became a fascination with season were Frank Bruni, Jeffrey Owen Moogan, a television news brothers were paid on the spot at the Napoleon and led to an historical novel, Toobin, Maggie and Clyde Haber- producer, fell under Tony’s mentoring at end of each shift. Napoleon’s Ghost. He went so far as to man, Joseph Lelyveld, Brian Stel- Brooklyn in the early 1990s, and said he “It was almost like day laboring,” travel with Maria to St. Helena, the re- tner, Chris Hayes and Mr. Louis. learned “a set of practical, logical skills Tony said. “I went in one night. Joe mote island in the South Atlantic where And needless to say, the No. 1 topic governed broadly by fairness.” On that went in the next night. We alternated. Napoleon lived in exile. throughout the year was the election score, nothing has changed over the At first, nobody knew. They couldn’t Of course, Tony remembers Peter and our new president. Just the way years. Alexandra Semenova graduates tell us apart. And when they cottoned Kihss, and greatly admired him. But we wanted it. from Brooklyn this spring. She decid- on, nobody cared.” a more inspiring figure, he found, was ed to make a career of journalism after College was followed by a two-year Henry Beckett, who covered the city Our awards ceremony also prom- taking Tony’s news writing course and stint in the Army. Once back home, for The Post for 44 years, from 1924 to ises to be exciting, as Medallions covering stories as part of the “News he passed his reporter’s tryout at The 1968. Beckett was well in his 70s when and Merit Certificates will be Lab” that he runs. In addition to tools Post. Joe did, too, and two careers were the young Mancini started out. awarded in 21 print, broadcast of the trade, “he always taught us to set launched. Theirs was the newspaper “He was an inspiration in that he kept and online categories. In addition, our egos aside for our work,” she said, owned by the idiosyncratic Dorothy doing, and seeming to enjoy, the daily we will be giving our Peter Kihss “and worry about getting the story and Schiff. “It was serious and frivolous grind of general assignment reporting,” Award to Tony Mancini, a former not about how we are perceived.” at the same time,” but always with a Tony said. “He would show up and get For his part, Tony feels he gets as sense of professionalism, Tony recalled. his assignment, and head out almost joy- reporter at the New York Post who good as he gives. “There’s a sense of “It had a healthy respect for the Grand fully for the next adventure in his life.” is now director of Brooklyn Col- lege’s journalism program and has taught there since 1980. And our Dennis Duggan Award will go to Dennis Duggan Award: Will Mathis—Winner Will Mathis of the CUNY Graduate Continued from Page 1 at St. Michael’s Church on the Upper Corps volunteer. School of Journalism. We should “Will has a quiet flair for getting reg- West Side and interviewed people who His interest in journalism grew out of ular folks to tell him their stories,” said fish in the East River forOur Town. For his two years’ experience in Paraguay. also be giving out awards to our CUNY J-School Professor Tim Harper. Norwood News, he wrote about a young “While I was in the Peace Corps, I Awards leader, Michael Serrill and “He looks for ways to speak truth to Bronx man recovering from a devastating started keeping a blog about the issues his team of Valerie Komor and Jack power; but like Dennis Duggan, he’s addiction to synthetic marijuana, known in our community, and I really enjoyed Deacy, and to Wendy Sclight, who shown a natural ease with everyday as K2. it,” he said. is putting together the dinner. (She’s people.“ A graduate of Goucher College, At the J-School, Mathis is special- not cooking.) For a year or so before enrolling in where he majored in international re- izing in business reporting. “Because The Silurians have proudly been J-School, Mathis, a New Jersey native, lations and Spanish, Mathis went into of the impact,” he said. “Everyone is handing out these awards since was a freelance reporter—first for free farming after getting his B.A., working affected by economic issues.” This weeklies around and later for in organic fields in New Hampshire summer, he will intern at The Salt Lake 1945; the club was founded in 1924. other outlets, including DNAinfo and and South Florida, then with subsis- Tribune, where he’ll work on data-driv- In November 1945, the Society AP. He profiled the first female rector tence farmers in Paraguay as a Peace en investigative pieces. of the Silurians began paying tribute to outstanding journalism when it presented its first annual award to William L. Laurence of The New Now adults, children of 9/11 York Times. Laurence, who was the official historian of the Manhattan draw inspiration from tragedy Project, was cited for his eyewitness Continued from Page 1 Sennas McGowan, was killed at the trade coverage of the dropping of an approaches, these children are now adults center. atomic bomb on Nagasaki, an event or nearly so, and their Sept. 11 legacy is As a preteen, Ryan partly played the that helped bring about the end of now theirs to shape. role of parent, helping her sister pick out- World War II. Laurence was the sole Many have been guided by a deter- fits for school and making dinner when mination to honor the parent they lost or their father, Tom, had to work. She came representative of the world press. the awareness they so painfully gained. to think of her mother as “an amazing This year, our society, healthy And they have done it in ways as varied guardian angel.” financially, is again handing out as working with refugees, studying the Now 20, Ryan is a junior majoring two scholarships to journalism forces that led to the attacks and pursuing in marketing at Boston College, where students—a CUNY student and an a parent’s unrealized pro-sports dream. 19-year-old Casey is a sophomore in incoming graduate student at NYU. “ONCE IT’S ON MY SKIN, I HAVE communications. Now, I am looking forward to our TO TALK ABOUT IT” Often, Ryan makes her way through next season, and to more outstand- It’s all right to ask Ryan McGowan the campus to a labyrinth inscribed with Society of the Silurians about the “IX.XI” tattooed on the back her mom’s name and those of 21 fellow ing copies of the Silurian News, so PO Box 1195 of her neck. It’s 9/11 in Roman numerals. BC graduates killed in 9/11. It’s a place Madison Square Station ably put together by our First Vice “Once it’s on my skin,” she says, “I she feels close to her mother, whose re- President, David A. Andelman. have to talk about it.” mains were never identified and buried. New York, NY 10159 Thank you all for a grand year. Ryan was 5, sister Casey 4, when their “I can just sit there and reflect,” she 212.532.0887 mother, investment executive Stacey says. “I don’t have that anywhere else.” www.silurians.org MAY 2017 SILURIAN NEWS PAGE 3 The Trump Pages: Truth as We Know It

BY ANNE ROIPHE eat dog becomes a respected and y political life began accepted foreign policy. with Jackie Robin- The End of the World? There is hope. Hopefully Mson and the Brook- these will prove to be exagger- lyn Dodgers. My heart beating, Everything our new president, our health. And still as the years their way. Hobbes had it right. ations, that there are enough my ear to the radio, I prayed for winding up his first hundred days, passed and Europe seemed to Freud had it right. Rousseau was rational voices to hold the voic- a home run or at least a double. brings to the public has always come together, we thought per- a kissing kin of Pete Seeger, a es of darkness at bay. There is I thought =each stroke of his bat been here. Prejudice, fear of the haps Homo Sapiens had taken a sweet folk singer, with a false resistance. There is an electoral brought us closer to a just and stranger, suspicion of the people turn for the better. We thought promise. process that will come around equal America. I believed FDR who live on the wrong side of we might have seen the last So at the end of my life again. There are large number had saved my life. I believed that the tracks, the tracks themselves of that Europe of Catholic vs. I should not be surprised or of Americans who will reach one day America would be its that divide us, the politicians who Protestant bloodshed, of eager shocked that the sound of black out to protect the vulnerable best self and Jim Crow would end would fleece us for their own nationalisms that ended in battle- boots can be heard over the land, among us. When the results are and this land would be my land profits, the know nothings who fields where poison gas clogged that a wall will perhaps be built clear many on the other side may and your land and one day Jews would deny science and keep on the lungs of soldiers soon to to keep out strangers, while this join us to vote out, to replace, to could stay in any hotel they want- destroying the only earth we have. die in muddy trenches, in the country was made by strangers, alter the slogans, to change the ed and college admissions would It is not that these forces are new open fields, under the blue not fleeing dictatorships or poverty hard bottom line hearts we see be fair and the New Deal would but that they have wrested control yet smog filled, not yet polluted elsewhere. I am shocked that so everywhere around us today. be forever and was my deal in of all the arms of our government skies. many of our citizens want to deny Or maybe what we are look- this America. I thought unions and this is why I open the draw- And after all, some restrain- health care to those who cannot ing at is the end of the American would provide and Joe McCarthy er where my afford the high dream. If so that does not mean would fall and the constitution passport rests prices of pri- the end of the human dream. would prevail and upward and and make Kate King’s fascinating report explored the vate insurers, It means that somewhere else, upward we were going towards sure each day but delighted someone may be thinking again an America that would provide that it is still impact overturned convictions had on the enough voic- about how to design a better health care for all and education where I put it family members of three murder victims. es have been government, a better distribution and opportunity for those that last. raised against of medicine, of food, or work. sought it. There were these plans to If there is no such thing as And then came the Vietnam those with gold bullion in their ing hand had held the nuclear call them now into question. The progress there are at least cycles, war and I was marching against bank accounts and those who disaster at bay after Hiroshima fear of a government program moods, history acting in unpre- my own government and weep- simply threw rocks, glared at lit- and Nagasaki, and there was a that would help the ill and the dictable ways. ing over villages burnt to ash tle children trying to go to a better United Nations with prime real less than comfortable among us, My psychoanalyst husband across the seas. And then I heard school as they walked through estate and with a beautiful hall would provide health care for said at the end of his life that it that FDR had not lifted a finger lines of grim hating faces, those with fine acoustics and transla- those who have suffered previous is very important when you are to bomb the train tracks to Aus- people who wave confederate tors who could bring the world illnesses, that fear seems luna- old not to confuse your own end chwitz and I learned that heroes flags, who left the bodies of together with a rise and tilt of tic. Capitalism is a good thing with the end of the world. That have feet of clay that melt in the Schwerner and Goodman rotting their voices coming over wires, except in those corners of life makes a lot of sense. Except rain. But still I thought women’s in the dirt, those people seemed to through ear plugs. The tower where it becomes too cruel, too now I think my liberal heart will rights, gay rights, my body, my have faded away but that was an of Babel was no more, or so it exclusive, vicious in its lack of have to grieve and grieve some self, all was moving forward, illusion, or a delusion. They are seemed. empathy and habit forming in its more. Lets also be canny, wise, slowly yes, but even so, forward. still with us and now they have Then there was the creation of need for someone else to suffer quick on our feet, run and hide And now with our new pres- their man in the White House, a the state of Israel. Many thought for an ideal that may or may not when necessary, plan what can be ident, a petty man, in a position clear majority in Congress. this new state would be a light be so ideal. planned, continue to care, contin- to harm so many, I am forced After world war two, as Babi unto the nations. But now the We do have checks and bal- ue to fight. Expect a long fight. to accept the fact that progress Yar and Treblinka were revealed, wattage is low. The light fades. ances in this country, but we have It may take a few generations to is not natural or dependable we saw that the Enlightenment But we, admirers of the lost control over most of them. undo what lies ahead of us now. like gravity. It can stall, even go had fooled us into ignoring the Declaration of Independence, Soon all branches of government But as journalists, we owe backwards, it can be erased in a selfish, bitter, murderous heart underestimated the persistence will belong to those who would this to our readers, our viewers, blink of the ballot box, by the rise of humanity. When we saw what of the violent anger that sets undo the New Deal, would re- all those who respect and value of fear and hatred, the greed of a the Communist dream had led man against man or woman and voke the Civil Rights act, would what we do and what we can few, the fortunes they comman- to, millions dying in the frost causes him or her to raise their make imperialism a respected still accomplish as members of deer, and the brutality that lurks of the Gulag, we knew dreams weapons against others, maybe political choice again and would the today, sadly much-vilified, always in the human heart. of utopias were dangerous to anyone, perceived as blocking weaken us in the world, as dog Fourth Estate. President Trump: The Pavlovian Prevaricator-in-Chief BY ALLAN DODDS FRANK Yet The New York Times and the gay rights war and the War n The Silurian News in most other news organizations on Poverty. Yet the Trump March 2016, I wrote did too little digging and failed supporters in rust-belt America Iabout my long-running to comprehend early that he knew this. investigation 30 years ago required special scrutiny. They There have been some bright of Donald Trump’s business repeatedly made the mistake of spots before and after the elec- acumen and warned that the treating him as a conventional tion. Maggie Haberman and then-candidate was a danger- candidate who followed their Glenn Thrush of The Times man- ous lure. I headlined the story: rules and could be unmasked aged to evade the temptations “Donald Trump: Press Siren.” by means of standard reporting. of Trump. Tellingly, the Wash- My prediction was that his Long before White House nington Post’s David Farenthold mastery of the media and his advisor Kellyanne Conway won the for the penchant for constant prevar- codified “alternative facts,” it story The Times missed: expos- ication would make it nearly was obvious that the Trump ing the Trump Foundaton as a impossible to cover Trump well. modus operandi all along had largely fake charity. But overall What an understatement that been: “The truth is whatever the electronic press and much turned out to be. Donald Trump says it is, even of the print press succumberd Since his election as the 45th if it contradicts what he said a to repeating Trump’s obvious President, I have become even day earlier.” falsehoods and fell into almost more alarmed about the press (credit: Photo: ABC News) Leaving Russia and FBI Di- every trap his campaign set. foundering on the shoals of rector James Comey aside, the As Steve Bannon bragged, the Trump. The shape of democ- Donald Trump in Allan Dodds Frank 1990 Interview. mainstream media never got mainstream media allowed itself racy in the coming years will resist as he tortures reality and cessibility almost always beats the big picture. They never ar- to be “infected” with half-truths, be dependent on whether the provokes the dogs of the press hard-to-get during a presidential ticulated that the 2016 election unsubstantiated assertions and mainstream press can cover his as he plays Pavlov on Twitter. campaign. He commandeered really was deep-pocketed right conflated scenarios. exploits honestly—and pro- Surely the press must have every news cycle with hardly wingers and the religious right Much of the press coverage portionately. Most important is learned something—or has it? a gesture toward truth and financing a radical retrench- parroted the language of the whether the American people Better than any other Repub- without fear that his hypocrisy ment. The media did not frame Trump campaign and continues will understand, accept and lican candidate and far more would cost him the election. It the election as the re-fighting to do so. For instance, reporters embrace the value of honest re- than Hillary Clinton, Trump was the way he has always done of the Civil War, the civil rights now frequently adopt the Kel- porting. Still, he remains hard to knew—and proved—that ac- business. war, the women’s rights war, Continued on Page 6 PAGE 4 SILURIAN NEWS MAY 2017

The Trump Tower climber. The Silurians Celebrate Journalism At Its Best Continued from Page 1 A fascinating report on how exoneration a secret deal between Gov. Chris Christie twice the rate of the boys, and his story of those who have served time for crimes and top state legislators to change the eth- is filled with interviews of players and NEWSPAPER, WIRE SERVICE they did not commit affects their families. ics law to allow him to profit from writing medical personnel who have ideas that can AND ONLINE a book. In return, the legislators would get change the game. Breaking News Investigative Reporting raises. For good measure, Christie would Medallion: The Record, “Hoboken Medallion: The Record, “A Climate of also punish his media enemies by rolling BUSINESS/FINANCIAL Train Crash.” Violence at Hospital of Last Resort” by back state legal ads in newspapers. The REPORTING IN NEWSPAPERS, Soon after a train packed with pas- Mary Jo Layton. sunlight from The Record disinfected the WIRE SERVICES OR ONLINE sengers and traveling fast crashed into Layton’s story about abuses at Bergen deal and it blew up once the stories made Medallion: Bloomberg News for “The Hoboken Terminal during the morning County Regional Medical Center is a it public. New Wall Street” by Hugh Son, Matt rush hour of Sept. 29, the north New model of inspired investigative reporting Leising and Annie Massa. Jersey newspaper went into action and that prompts corrective action from county Sports Reporting The Bloomberg team wins for a deeply covered the catastrophe from all angles, and state officials. With the help of The Medallion: Newsday for “High School reported and well-written series of articles, It was a brilliant and comprehensive ef- Record’s general counsel, Layton used the Girls Soccer: Tallying the Risks” by Jim examining the technological and strategic fort. News articles, columns, photographs New Jersey Open Records law and the fed- Baumbach. developments that are dramatically chang- and graphics filled the paper for the next eral Freedom of Information Act to unearth We used to laugh when a player was ing the operations of the global finan- several days. police and administrative records that the “knocked silly”--his eyes rolled, he slurred cial industry and the face of its work force. Merit Award: DNAinfo.com, “Cover- state’s largest public hospital wanted kept something unintelligible, and then, went age of the Chelsea bombing” by Murray secret. Her determined reporting of first the cliche, he’d ask to get back in the game. SCIENCE/HEALTH REPORTING Weiss. person accounts of violence at the hospital But concussions have become among the IN ANY MEDIUM DNAinfo reporters broke the story that documented how the county-owned 1,000 most serious issues in the world of sports, Medallion: Newsday, three articles by two Egyptian tourists inadvertently helped bed institution was well below public recognized as something with long-term Delthia Ricks. investigators crack the Sept. 17 Chelsea health standards and in need of corrective effects. Baumbach’s remarkable piece, Ricks’ wide-ranging set of crisply bomb case when they removed an unex- governmental action. The follow-up sto- involving a look at the concussions in four explained, artfully crafted stories ex- ploded device from a suitcase and walked ries have kept on the pressure. sports at more than 100 Long Island high plores both the problems and promise of off with the suitcase. That bomb ultimately Merit Award: Newsday, “The Curious schools, concentrates on girls’ soccer. He modern-day medical advances – to wit: led to the arrest of Ahmad Khan Rahimi. Case of Robert Macedonio” by Gus Gar- found that they get concussions at almost the difficulty of finding round-the-clock, cia-Roberts and Will Van Sant. institutional care for Feature News Garcia-Roberts and Van Sant dug out a growing population Medallion: Associated Press, “Candie the hidden details of a fraud and drug of “medically fragile” Hailey’s Rikers Island Story” by Jake investigation of Robert Macedonio, one young adults who, at Pearson. of Suffolk County’s most influential and 21, are “aging out” of Pearson tells the harrowing tale of how flamboyant lawyers. He was convicted of pediatric facilities with Candie Hailey spent three years behind a felony, yet was able to get that sentence nowhere to go; a ser- bars at the women’s prison on Rikers reduced to a misdemeanor and obtain re- endipitous discovery, Island, two and a half of them in solitary instatement of his license to practice law. stemming from basic confinement. Charged with attempted The stories uncovered possible impropri- studies of “junk” DNA, murder, a mentally impaired Hailey was a eties in the handling of Macedonio’s case that points to novel met- difficult prisoner. She often physically and by the District Attorney and the county astatic breast cancer verbally challenged guards, broke prison sheriff. therapy; development of rules and on several occasions attempted an ingenious technique, suicide, conduct that consistently landed Public Service using 3-D printing in her in solitary. When her case finally came Medallion: Newsday, “Suffolk County league with GPS-guided to trial, she was acquitted. Since leaving Legal System” by Sandra Peddie, Will surgery, for tailor-made, Rikers, Hailey has often been homeless. Van Sant and Gus Garcia-Roberts. minimally invasive re- She is unable to find work, to regain her The team examined possible corruption moval of large, precar- Housing Authority apartment or the cus- in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s iously lodged tumors. tody of her two sons. Office, illegal concealment of judicial re- cords and questionable procedures in the ENVIRONMENTAL Merit Award: Associated Press, “Ba- selection of county judges. Taken togeth- REPORTING IN bies Behind Bars” by Colleen Long. er, their reports sounded the alarm about ANY MEDIUM This is a moving look at the mother/ the need for total overhaul of the Suffolk Medallion: City child program at the Bedford Hills Cor- County judicial system and replacement Limits for “Green Jobs rectional Facility, one of the few prisons of those in charge. Go Missing.” in the country to allow infants to live with Merit Award: The Record, “Christie This is a thoroughly their incarcerated mothers. Book Deal” by Salvador Rizzo, Charles researched series of ar- Merit Award: The Wall Street Journal, Stile, Dustin Racioppi ticles, as well as video “Exoneration” by Kate King. The Record’s Trenton Bureau exposed The Tardif twins. Continued on Page 5 MAY 2017 SILURIAN NEWS PAGE 5 The Silurians Celebrate Journalism At Its Best Continued from Page 4 raises, especially for Long Island schools. lost loved ones in the attack, plus stories, Shaxson, writing in mid-campaign and radio sidebars, produced by a team photos, videos and an interactive lower when Donald Trump was still considered of investigative reporters, led by edi- Breaking News Photography Manhattan skyline showing how it has a dark horse candidate, discloses what tor-in-chief Jarrett Murphy and includ- Medallion: “Climb Up Chump Tower” changed since the Twin Towers were was known at the time about the Trump ing students from the CUNY Graduate by James Keivom, . destroyed. Organization’s business operation and School of Journalism. The series docu- On an August afternoon last summer, Merit Award: Field of Vision/The Trump’s personal wealth and tax returns. ments how an ambitious New York State three months before its namesake was Intercept, “Project X” by Laura Poitras, He conducted multiple interviews with plan to increase “green” jobs and power elected president, Trump Tower was the Henrik Moltke and Ryan Gallagher. Trump as he did his reporting, catching the use fell woefully short. scene of high drama and intense police This online package of film and in- future president in several lies. He notes, activity when a 19-year-old tried to climb terviews discloses that the highly secure for instance, that on his FEC disclosure COMMENTARY the building using nothing but suction Manhattan skyscraper originally designed forms Trump depicted his Scottish golf AND EDITORIALS cups and straps. He reached the 21st floor. to protect New York Telephone’s equip- courses as immensely profitable, while Medallion: Susan Antilla, TheStreet. Keivom, with exquisite timing, captured ment is now being used by the NSA to on official Scottish documents the figure com, “An Advocate for Ordinary People.” the precise moment an NYPD officer monitor communications at the United he had called net income was actually Antilla’s series of columns examines grabbed the man and hauled him to safety. Nations, the World Bank and at least 38 gross revenue. Shaxson, conferring with how policies adopted by companies, stock- Merit Award: New York Daily News, countries, including Germany and France. experts, says the misstatements may be brokers and politicians seriously damage “The Naked City” by Marcus Santos. prosecutable as a federal crime. the interests of ordinary Americans. For his on-the-spot coverage of a na- MAGAZINES Merit Award: The Record, for com- ked man about to leap from the top of the Feature Writing TELEVISION & RADIO mentary by editorial page editor Alfred P. TKTS booth stairs in Times Square, the Medallion: “A Place Called Charivari” Feature Reporting Doblin. He penned a series of well-rea- Certificate of Merit goes to Marcus Santos by Ingrid Sischy, Vanity Fair. Medallion: MSNBC, “Not Wanted: soned opinion pieces that steadfastly of The New York Daily News. Back in 1967, a quirky little clothing Trump’s Racial Discrimination.” Corre- support LGBT rights. store was opened on Broadway and 85th spondent: Cynthia McFadden. Producer: Merit Award: The Daily Beast and Feature Photography Street by Selma Weiser, 42 and recently Anna Schecter. Host: Rachel Maddow. Mike Daly for his series examining tales Medallion: “The Tardif Twins” by divorced, and her children, Barbara and Before the presidential election, the Donald Trump told about the many friends Thomas A. Ferrara, Newsday Jon. It was called Charivari and it was NBC team transported viewers back he lost, the damage he suffered and the Eighteen years ago, twins Joe and John like nothing that neighborhood had ever decades to review federal charges of dis- rescues he helped with on 9/11—stories Tardif of Cutchogue were born prema- seen. It introduced avant-garde clothing crimination against Fred Trump’s housing Daly concluded had no basis in fact. turely and given little chance to survive. to what was then an unfashionable part of empire in . The story alleges that Joe became a star athlete in three sports. town and helped gentrify the Upper West the discrimination continued after Fred PEOPLE PROFILES John has cerebral palsy, uses a wheelchair Side. It also spawned a mini retail empire handed over management responsibil- Medallion: The Associated Press, for and cannot speak, but he is Joe’s biggest with an impressive roster of international ities to his son Donald. NBC tracked down two black women who described how they were denied apartments by the Trumps in both 1963 and 1973. NBC also talked to a white woman who went un- dercover to prove that apartments denied to blacks were available to whites at the Trump properties.

Investigative Reporting Medallion: WNBC-TV, “ComStat.” Correspondent: Jonathan Dienst. Senior Producers: Robert Dembo, Rich McHugh, Van Stulberger. WNBC got its cameras inside police headquarters to view one of the weekly meetings of top New York City police commanders while they were being grilled about how they were handling specific crimes in their precincts. The story pro- vided a crystal-clear explanation of a crime-fighting program called ComStat that matches comprehensive data collec- tion with on-the-street detective work to focus on suspects and secure arrests. Re- porting over the course of a year, WNBC A Family in Mourning. followed commanders in the Bronx as they struggled to find strategies to combat new “Children of 9/11” by Jennifer Peltz. fan and never misses a game. In April designers. Overexpansion, the changing waves of crime or account for their fail- Peltz tells the moving stories of children 2016, the twins and their family talked retail environment and some questionable ures. These stories turned public service of 9/11 victims, some of them unborn at about their relationship with one another decisions led to a sad ending in 1998. reporting into crackling good television. the time of the terror attacks, and how they and the community. Ferrara’s portfolio of Merit Award: Bloomberg Business- have coped with the pain. One woman be- photographs illuminates the special bond week, “The Journalist and the Troll” by Feature and public service came a professional wrestler because she between the brothers and the love they Dune Lawrence. reporting: Radio. and her father enjoyed that sport together. have for each other. Lawrence tells the chilling story of how Medallion: 1010 WINS, “Generation Another works in the medical examiner’s Merit Award: “Family in Mourning” she was professionally maligned and per- H” by Rebecca Granet. office that identified her father’s remains. by Debbie Egan-Chin, New York Daily sonally smeared during two years of cyber The new heroin epidemic has reached News assault — and how the law can enable such crisis proportions and WINS reporter REPORTING ON Egan-Chin’s photo gives us a sensitive abuse under the cloak of “free speech.” Granet produced a winning series about MINORITY ISSUES portrayal of the wife and children of fatally three women whose lives and those of Medallion: The Record, “Transgender injured NYPD Deputy Chief Michael J. Business their families were ripped apart by this Youth” by Andrew Wyrich, Abbot Koloff Fahy, as his casket passed by them at his Reporting drug. Listening to the story of one of the and Monsy Alvarado. funeral procession. Medallion: Vanity Fair, “Roger, Over and women who began shooting up when she This moving, informative, well-writ- Out” by Sarah Ellison. was only 12 is heartbreaking. ten and evenhanded story pushes into MULTIMEDIA REPORTING Ellison illuminated the shadowy world Merit Award: 1010 WINS, “Chelsea places that need exploration. With their AND PRESENTATION inside the Fox News bunker: a place where Bombing.” combination of words, audio, video and Medallion: Newsday, “Doubly De- Roger Ailes had security cameras trained Shortly after W. 23 Street in Manhattan photographs, the reporters bring to life the voted, the Tardif Twins” by Thomas A. on his office door and kept two guns at was rocked by an explosion on the night of struggles that so many transgender young Ferrara, John Paraskevas, Matthew Golub the ready and where Ailes was in unchal- Sept. 17, reporters from 1010 WINS flood- people deal with every day – struggles that and Gregg Sarra. lenged control even as whispers of sexual ed the zone. In the hours that followed the too often lead to homelessness and suicide. This online version of the story that misconduct persisted. Ellison showed how all-news station broadcast a series of up- Merit Award: Newsday, “Unaccom- wins for Feature Photography includes Fox News intentionally limited its internal dates that kept the public informed without panied Minors On Long Island” by Victor photos, video and interviews with the investigation into Ailes’ misconduct in indulging in speculation or inciting alarm. Manuel Ramos. Tardif family. order to keep the network’s powerful profit Long Island has been a major destina- Merit Award: The Record: “9/11: Ris- machine on track. Investigative reporting: Online tion for the thousands of Central Ameri- ing From The Ashes.” Medallion: New York Daily News, can young people who have crossed the This multifaceted presentation looks at Investigative Reporting “How Safe is Your Child? New York Mexican border unaccompanied. Newsday the impact of 9/11 on its 15th anniversary. Medallion: Vanity Fair, “Snakes on a City’s Day Care Nightmare” by Greg B. examines the issues that the migration It takes a close look at five families who Campaign” by Nicholas Shaxson. Continued on Page 8 PAGE 6 SILURIAN NEWS MAY 2017 The Trump Pages: Truth as We Know It

as the head of a legal foundation that fought environmental advocates on a variety of issues. During the late 1970s, Presidential Cabinet Follies his firm filed more than forty law suits on BY GARY PAUL GATES of presidents past, veteran Silurian and Pierce, a successful New York lawyer and behalf of oil, power and mining interests. ccording to some Washington author Gary Paul Gates looks back at lifelong Republican. Although Reagan Watt was, by far, the most conservative scuttlebutt, when the renowned some obscure cabinet members of the had never heard of Pierce, he appointed member of Reagan’s Cabinet, and in Aneurosurgeon Ben Carson Reagan era. him Secretary of Housing and Urban sharp contrast to Pierce, he never met heard that President Trump wanted him —State, Defense, Treasury and Development. a limelight he didn’t like. At his Senate to serve as Secretary of Housing and Justice—Cabinet Whenever a new A quiet, unassuming man, Pierce was confirmation hearing, he displayed a Urban Development, his first impulse Cabinet is assembled from top to bottom, never one to seek the limelight, and the penchant for outlandish remarks that only was to say no. The doctor’s reluctance I’m reminded of a book that I co-authored limelight returned the favor. He managed served to undermine his credentials. was apparently based on the rather with my former CBS News colleague, to serve through the entire two terms of In response to a query, he readily fussy notion that he had no experience Bob Schieffer. The subject of The Acting Reagan’s presidency in utter obscurity. admitted saying on one occasion that “as a in housing issues, urban problems or, President was the Reagan White House, One day when Pierce showed up at white man I will be very hesitant to allow for that matter, government policies of and in it Bob and I devoted a chapter a ceremony in the Rose Garden, the a black doctor to operate on me because I any kind. But when push came to shove, to the Cabinet that Ronald Reagan put President couldn’t help but notice the will always have the feeling that he may Carson chose to accept Trump’s offer. together—with plenty of help from only black man at that function. But have been carried by the quota system.” Perhaps he was guided to change his others – following his victory in the 1980 Reagan didn’t recognize him. So, making Watt also rejoiced in being a born- mind by a reminder that the man who election. Here’s a brief look at two of his a guess and acting on that impulse, he again Christian and, with his missionary was courting him for the HUD post is the choices. walked over to his HUD secretary and zeal, he had no tolerance for anyone who first president in U.S. history who came When President-elect Reagan let it heartily greeted him as “Mr. Mayor.” disagreed with him. He once declared into the White House with no credentials be known that he wanted at least one Then there was Interior Secretary that there were just two kinds of people in whatsoever in government positions of African-American in his Cabinet, his James Watt, an arch-conservative from the country—“liberals and Americans.” leadership – civilian or military. advisers steered him toward Samuel Wyoming who made a name for himself Nor did he gain much support at his In any event, Carson may have hearing when he asserted that his duty in regretted that decision on a certain life was to “follow the scriptures which day in April when he suddenly and call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus unceremoniously found himself trapped returns.” in an elevator in a Miami housing project. All in all, Watt made such a negative That’s the sort of thing that can happen impression that his appointment was to guy who is in the throes of on-the-job barely confirmed by the Senate. And his training. That awkward incident, along three-year stint as Secretary of Interior with many other growing pains that have was dogged by controversies, most of afflicted the Trump team during the first which were set in motion by his own few months of the new administration, gaffes. has prompted veteran Silurian and author His last one came in the fall of 1983 Gary Paul Gates to look back at a couple when a coal mining advisory committee of bizarre Cabinet appointments that he had recently established was criticized were made by the popular leader that for its lack of ideological balance. Donald Trump has often cited as a model Responding to the charge, Watt insisted of past presidents. that the panel was perfectly balanced, The case can be made that the only and to prove his point, he noted that it Cabinet posts that truly matter are was composed of “a black, a woman, two the secretaries of the four glamour Jews and a cripple.” departments – State, Defense, Treasury Until then, Reagan had defended Watt and Justice. But while they exert at every ill-chosen turn of phrase, but he influence in the high-profile decisions now recognized that his Interior chief that produce headlines, their Cabinet had finally gone too far. The appropriate counterparts generally spend most of signal was sent to Watt and soon thereafter their time languishing in the humdrum he submitted his resignation. of their minor bureaucracies. If they These two tales of life within the surface at all, more often than not it’s Reagan Administration—and there are because they’ve become entangled in many others worth recalling—may help an embarrassing incident or similar illustrate an often overlooked aspect of misfortune. those years in Washington. Whatever In early April, President Trump’s else one thinks about Ronald Reagan’s choice for Secretary of Housing presidency, it was, without question, a and Urban Development, renowned recurring source of mirth. neurosurgeon Ben Carson, emerged from So now it’s Donald Trump’s turn at bat the obscurity of his cabinet position when and perhaps his reign in the White House he suddenly and unceremoniously found will provide a comparable treasure-trove himself trapped in an elevator in a Miami of gaffes and follies. I realize that’s not housing project. Since Donald Trump has a lot to hope for, but it’s better than often cited Ronald Reagan as a model nothing—or Armageddon. President Trump: The Pavlovian Prevaricator-in-Chief Continued from Page 3 er for the first time, he is entering a reveal less to the public. abetting him believe they can wear out lyanne Conway misuse of the word “liti- bloodthirsty phase while hunting new They want to take the government the truth and make it irrelevant. gate” to indicate that a subject has been a approval ratings. He has discovered dark and stop collecting statistics, such As expected, his administration matter of political discussion rather than that Commander-in-Chief means you as methane gas emissions, that might has been suppressing facts, attacking considered in court. can savor bombing people. To him, it be held against them.I worry less about reporters and distorting the truth. Re- Trump regards the entire process of must be sweet that those surreal aerial Trump labeling the press as the “enemy defining what constitutes a “conflict of governing as a television show. At the photos and video from the Pentagon of of the people,” and his branding of any interest,” they have simply gone out of same time, the GOP leadership views explosions on a Syrian Airfield or an Af- story he does not like as “fake news.” their way to prove that he and his family Trump as the masturbating orangutan ghanistan tunnel complex automatically I know that when he has something he have none. Who will be surprised when drawing record crowds to the Monkey hijack the cable news headlines and feels he has to say, he smiles and dials he changes the explanation for his on- House while they do dirty deals in the overwhelm any negative investigative The New York Times or Washington Post going refusal to release his tax returns? Snake House in the dark. The under- reporting. reporters whose cell numbers he has on Will it be “national security?” lying problem is that the backers of While Trump is demonstrably a his list of favorites on his phone. He One more prediction: The Repub- Sen. Mitch McConnell (R.-Ky.) and lying kleptomaniac, I am much more knows that only the mainstream media lican leadership is quietly collecting other Republican leaders are devoted concerned about the damage his ad- give him any credibility. information to impeach Trump, but will to destroying the idea that the federal ministration is deliberately inflicting So, the danger for the public and the not act until the bodies of dead soldiers government protects people and should to the public’s right to know. In every press is that the relentless Trump ma- start piling up alarmingly at Dover Air be trusted.As Trump wields real pow- agency, his administration is trying to chine and the right wingers aiding and Force Base. MAY 2017 SILURIAN NEWS PAGE 7 IN MEMORIUM Read All About It: Jimmy Breslin When On March 19, journalism lost a true icon. Jimmy Breslin, whose career spanned five New York newspapers, three of which he outlasted. But to capture the real Jimmy, we have only to return to the words penned at height of his career nearly half a century ago, by two of our Silurians—Mort Sheinman, writing in WWD, and Bert Shanas, who knew Jimmy well from their days together at the New York Daily News. We are privileged that they’ve unearthed them, and allow us all to enjoy and admire the man and those who channeled him.

BY BERT SHANAS It has been a marriage of two minds— BY MORT SHEINMAN needed a wildcat local of the Teamsters TODAY’S SECRETARY forged on the streets of New York. Bres- Excerpted from WWD: July 16, 1971 to represent you, not the American APRIL 1981 lin, the cigar-chomping 49-year-old EW YORK — It required only Newspaper Guild. I was there five he city desk was on deadline, street kid from South Ozone Park, needs two and a half hours, one piece years and I been spending the rest of editors were screaming for copy somebody who understands him and the Nof fish, two cups of coffee my life trying to forget it. I was in Syr- Ton that January afternoon in people he writes for. Ann Marie [Breslin and three cigars for Jimmy Breslin to acuse one time and saw this beautiful 1977, and Jimmy Breslin was late with calls her “Darlin”], a 28-year-old city- clobber the Mafia, New York magazine building — the Newhouse School of his column. Breslin, the gutsy syndicated wise, tough-talker, who grew up in East and almost every publisher he ever Communications. I always thought for New York City’s The Daily Harlem, understands James Breslin. worked for. I should have moved a cot into that “The truth of the matter In addition, Breslin squeezed in some building. I figured they owed me at is he screams loud, but he’s comments on his primary campaign for least a room.” really a marshmallow,” says City Council president in 1969, pros- He also worked for the old Jour- Ann Marie. titution and pornography, and ethnic nal-American. Life for Ann Marie Cag- discrimination in this city. “That was like working on the docks. giano is a never-ending swirl Through it all, the language, like They used to shovel that paper together of long hours and unexpected Breslin himself, was salted by the street . . . it was like throwing packing cases developments. “The man life he knows so well. around. I mean, you couldn’t even works constantly at maintain- He had come into town from his believe the weather. I don’t remember ing contacts and sources,” she summer place at Westhampton (“It reading anything in there I really be- says. “The phones are unreal. ain’t a sumptuous joint, just a joint for lieved. One time there was some bad You never know who is going us and the six kids”) where he is fin- thing that Hearst was anti-Semitic. So to be the source for a column. ishing his second novel. It is about the he hired a bunch of guys with very He’s always working, always Northern Ireland Irish and the Queens, Jewish names. The only problem was probing. You just have to be N.Y. Irish. He is a good friend of Irish they were the only illiterate Jews I ever ready for anything.” activist Bernadette Devlin and some met in my life.” “Anything” could mean wise guy asked if he was the father of He hit it real big when he started the time Breslin walked into her unborn child. writing for the Herald Tribune, a the office with a guy who “Hey,” he said, “that I’d gladly claim paper he described as “a high-class had managed to walk out of credit for.” operation.” Subsequently, he ran for an upstate prison where he His first novel, “The Gang That president in was doing time for a burglary. Couldn’t Shoot Straight,” concerned a the Democratic primary. His running “This guy just escaped from different ethnic group and is now being mate was , who ran for Goshen, Breslin told Ann Ma- made into a movie. It is based on the mayor. The Democrats picked Mario rie. “Make him feel at home.” Gallo-Profaci gang war that livened the Procaccino. News, walked into the office and went for “Anything” could mean that Sunday streets of New York about 10 years ago. “It’s going to look strange in the the first phone he could find. It was in the evening at 8 pm when Breslin called her There has been considerable talk about textbooks 50 years from now that the paper’s feature department and Breslin, at home and said, “Darlin, I’m supposed the exorcism of the word “Mafia” from Democratic Party chose Mario Procac- pulling the ever-present cigar from his to be handing out one of the Emmy the script of “The Godfather.” Breslin cino over Norman Mailer,” said mouth, asked the secretary sitting there Awards at 8:30 tonight and I can’t make dismisses this as “a triumph of public- Breslin. “But it’s a measure of New if he could use her phone. it. Call them and tell them something.” ity over fear” and says his picture has York’s sophistication and the advance- “Are you going to be long?” she asked. Jimmy Breslin has found Ann Marie to experienced no such difficulties. ment of civilization that Mailer is bet- “Yeah,” he snapped. be a secretary with a sense of the streets Yes, but will the word “Mafia” be ter known in Stockholm than he is on “Then you can’t use it,” she replied. and the instincts of a newspaper person, uttered in the film? Jerome Avenue in the Bronx.” The newsman-novelist-and-sometime and he often uses it by trying out a col- “No,” said Breslin. “Not until the If the Breslin-Mailer ticket had been television personality was shocked. Few umn on her before sending it over to the third line of the script.” elected (a development Breslin always people talk back to Jimmy Breslin. He city desk. Turning to other matters, Breslin felt was impossible), how would Bres- looked at her, mumbled something and “She has better judgement than most told why he probably would no longer lin handle the wave of prostitution and walked out. A few weeks later, Breslin’s newspaper people I know,” says Breslin. write for New York magazine, a publi- pornography in New York? own secretary went on a two-week vaca- “If she doesn’t understand what I’m cation he still has “a piece of.” “Jesus Christ,” he said, “they been tion that felt so good it turned out to be trying to get at in a column, why go any “The magazine has become boring, cracking down on whores since Mary an early retirement. further? But the main thing is her ability static, predictable and nominally writ- Magdalene. Legalize it? You couldn’t By coincidence the secretary who had to handle tips over the phone. I’ve had a ten,” he said. “I put my complaints in win that one in this town in 100 years.” given the writer a tough time with the number of columns start with callers she private for months, but nothing hap- The matter of pornography is faintly phone was assigned to fill in for the va- turned over to me. She just knows people pened. It’s too dilettantish for me. If disgusting to Breslin because he feels cation period. For the next two weeks she and understands newspapers.” I see one more issue with a bleeping it is relatively unimportant. fielded phone call from the politicians, Perhaps the best demonstration of that maid on the cover and one more story “Sure 42nd Street’s a cesspool, but celebrities, and hordes of everyday New understanding came a few years ago when about the people who have trouble in a city of 8 million people, you got Yorkers who consider Jimmy Breslin to Breslin was writing columns about David getting maids, I wouldn’t even read it.” to have a certain amount of degener- be their very own. And when the colum- Berkowitz, the deranged “Son of Sam” As for some other publications he ates. The real pornography is up at St. nist screamed at her, she screamed right killer, who held New York in a state of has worked for, he is even less thrilled. Albans Hospital, where they got these back—only louder. Two months later, terror for over a year. In June 1977 after Take the Long Island Press, for exam- kids just back from Vietnam with their Ann Marie Caggiano became Jimmy several killings, Berkowtiz wrote a letter ple. legs blown off. That’s pornographic. Breslin’s permanent secretary—at the to Breslin, initiating a line of communica- “There was no way to get decent Why the hell doesn’t somebody get request of Jimmy Breslin. Continued on Page 8 money from Newhouse. I mean, you excited about them?”

Charles Novitz: Stalwart of ABC & a Silurian Charles Novitz, a longtime Silurian A native of Chicago, Novitz graduated A year after that, joined ABC News, and a stalwart of ABC News for almost 20 in 1956 from the University of Illinois where he remained until 1979, first years, died on April 5 of complications fol- at Urbana-Champaign with a B.A. as a news writer, then as manager of lowing a stroke. He was 82. In addition to in Journalism. He later earned post- the network’s daily electronic feed, his lengthy career as a reporter, editor and graduate degrees from Columbia Uni- providing news to ABC-affiliated television producer, Novitz was president versity and New York University. He stations. Novitz rejoined NBC News of the Deadline Club New York City in broke into journalism in 1956 as a re- as a producer in the 1980s. Since 1969 and national president of the So- porter, writer and editor at Chicago’s 1994, he was the head of NovaNews, ciety of Professional Journalists famed City News Bureau. A year later, a communications consultant. No- in 1981 and 1982. Since 1999, he moved to UPI’s Chicago bureau. In vitz also taught journalism, at NYU, he had been president of the 1959, he was hired by NBC News as Long Island University and Lehman Deadline Club Foundation. an editor, writer and field producer. College. PAGE 8 SILURIAN NEWS MAY 2017 How to Talk Like a Newsman BY BILL DIEHL and concise manner. One of George’s broadcasts came out of Chi- hen I arrived as a news ME (managing editor) notes was called cago. His writing style was correspondent at the ABC “Words” where he declared there are some unique, and no one back in WRadio Network in 1971, I words in the dictionary we should not New York dared criticize found myself confronted with some rules use on the air. “That’s because,” he said, or tamper with his prose. that looking back on them now were rather “people don’t ordinarily use them when Harvey was famous for strange. talking to each other.” adding a little drama to his Our vice-president of news was Tom Here are some ‘no-no’ words in that newscasts. Once he said, O’Brien, who was a stickler for what he memo: “Hurled, rampage, clash, probe, “ElizabethTaylor fell off a considered good newswriting. In a 1976 shootout, sniper, within the hour, vessel, lu- horse, they had to shoot her memo told the staff, “Let’s not be vague!“ nar, blaze (as a noun) charge (unless there (dramatic pause) X-rays.” O’Brien pointed to a newscast script that is an actual admission in the legal sense), I came to ABC from one described a summit conference taking accuse (unless the actual or accused is of the nation’s great music place at a “famous Puerto Rican hotel,” used by a newsmaker.” What amazes me and news stations, New ignoring the fact that it was the Dorado today, words like “sniper, lunar, vessel. or York’s WNEW, where lead Beach. shootout,” are used routinely in newscasts. lines in newscasts would And yet we could not say on the air One of our correspondents, Stan Martyn, probably not have passed “The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.” found some humor in George’s “word’s” muster at ABC. During a O’Brien felt it was a free commercial for rules, joking “so if I break a blood vessel police slowdown over union Macy’s, even though it was the department Nick, should I say I burst a blood ship?” demands, for instance, store’s parade. So when we did a story Nick was not amused, “that’s not funny “New York’s abominable about the parade we had to say “New Martyn.” towman won’t be in action York’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.”An- Someone wrote that working in the today.” Or “If the RCA Vic- other newscast spoke of President Gerald ABC Radio newsroom during Nick tor dog had to listen to all Ford and Governor Jimmy Carter “at a po- George’s time was “like living on a verbal the talks since the beginning of the school began covering entertainment news full litical dinner,” without noting the import- fault line. You knew an earthquake was crisis, his ears would be worn to a frazzle.” time, interviewing some of the biggest ant fact that it was New York’s annual Al inevitable, you just didn’t know when.” But newscasters who wrote lines they stars in show business. It has been a most Smith dinner, traditionally non-partisan. The big star at ABC Radio was Paul thought were clever didn’t always win rewarding and amazing journey. Happily, Nick George was ABC’s managing Harvey, whose “News and Comment” applause. “Rock ‘n roll singer Jackie Wil- the daily grind of covering so-called “hard editor, who insisted radio journalists write twice a day was a huge draw for some son is in critical condition tonight after a news,” is now in my rear view mirror. and deliver the news in a simple, clear twelve hundred ABC stations. Harvey’s woman admirer shot him six times at his apartment.” News director Lee Hanna Bill Diehl covered entertainment for wasn’t pleased, saying in a memo “If she ABC News Radio for almost 50 years Read all about it: Jimmy Breslin When had admired him any more she might have and has written the story of his life in killed him.” broadcasting plus interviews with some Continued from Page 7 Michael O’Neill and several reporters Another Hanna memo from 1961 under of the world’s best known show biz stars. tion between the killer and the columnist. looking on, Ann Marie managed to keep the heading Yellow Newcasts: “Nikita This excerpt is adapted from Bill’s memoir It was Ann Marie who opened the letter. talking in a calm voice as the police traced Khrushchev, the Russian Bear has warned Stay Tuned My Life Behind the Mic, pub- And although Breslin, like most urban the call to a Manhattan phone booth. It the West.” Said Hanna, “We’re becoming lished February 26 by Oliver Productions journalists, gets a good deal of “nut mail,” wasn’t Berkowtiz. The News stationed increasingly editorial in writing about and available in paperback at bdiehl.com she singled this one out. a guard outside her office after that call. Khrushchev and Castro. References to the or Amazon. Ann Marie was fingerprinted to dis- “That period was really frightening,” ‘Russian bear’ color our newscasts to an tinguish her prints from the killer’s and she recalls. “Sometimes I was afraid to extent that is almost tabloid. Although I a tape recorder was hooked up to her leave the building. Then, on the morning admit there is a strong temptation to take phone. For the next three months, Breslin after they really did catch Berkowitz, I a verbal potshot at the Communist camp, The Silurians prodded the killer in his columns to come walked into the city room. Jimmy was al- I urge you to resist the temptation and play Celebrate Journalism forward. While Ann Marie took phone ready there. He came over to me, hugged it straight.” calls from “crazies” throughout the city me and said, “It’s all over now, Darlin.” I wasn’t immune either to taking it on At Its Best who were claiming to be the Son of Sam. We shared the feeling that maybe we the chin when I tried to be overly clever Continued from Page 5 She soon deveolped an uncanny ability to had helped in getting Berkowitz to come in a newscast when I said “Another Viet Smith, with photographer Debbie Egan- keep the callers on the phone long enough forward.” Cong attack may be just around the pa- Chin, video editing by Michael Sheridan. to be checked out for authenticity. goda.” News chief Alan Walden was not This series by Smith takes us on a jour- Once while she held a caller on the Bert Shanas, a Silurian, was a report- amused, saying “another line like that ney through the morass of risks that chil- phone for nearly an hour, the man’s voice er and then editor on the Daily News for Diehl and it’s back to Washington.” dren face every day and the failure of the went from passive to wild as he threat- 22 years, 1964-86. He wrote this free- Fortunately I never had to return to system that is supposed to police 11,400 ened to kill again. With Daily News editor lance piece in 1981. Washington. At ABC in the mid 1980s I day-care centers. The Daily News stories, complete with photos, videos of grieving parents and impressive interactive graph- ics, put together - for the first time - records Society of the Silurians Officers 2017-2018 New Members from several city and state agencies that OFFICERS: COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS: Ilene Barth is the founder and creative enabled parents to get a complete look at President violations by the day-care centers where BERNARD KIRSCH Advisory: director of Red Rock Press, an independent BETSY ASHTON book publisher she launched in 1999. She their children were entrusted. As a result, First Vice-President was editor of The Villager newspaper back the city added 30 new day-care inspectors DAVID A. ANDELMAN Awards: in the early 1970s, then moved to Newsday and tougher penalties while the state began MICHAEL SERRILL in 1976, where she was a senior editor, requiring day-care centers to post report Second Vice-President OpEd columnist and book reviewer until MICHAEL SERRILL Constitution and Bylaws: cards about their status with regulators. ALLAN DODDS FRANK leaving in 1992. Merit Award: DNAinfo.com, “Inves- Secretary tigations into Mayor DeBlasio’s Fund- LINDA AMSTER Dinner: Dorothy Rogers was editorial librarian of WENDY SCLIGHT raising” by James Fanelli, Jeff Mays and The New York Daily News. She was with Murray Weiss. Treasurer The News from 1948 until retiring in 1991. KAREN BEDROSIAN Futures: In a series of online stories, DNAin- RICHARDSON ALLAN DODDS FRANK Gary Weiss has been a freelance writer fo disclosed fundraising irregularities BOARD OF GOVERNORS: Membership: and author, specializing in business cov- by the mayor’s campaign, including JACK DEACY MORT SHEINMAN erage, since 2004. Prior to that he spent improper donations to his political BILL DIEHL 20 years as a writer and editor, first as an non-profit and the hiring of fundraisers GERALD ESKENAZI Nominating: ALLAN DODDS FRANK BEN PATRUSKY editor at Barron’s (1984-1986) and subse- for City Hall jobs. TONY GUIDA quently as an investigative reporter and se- Silurian News MYRON KANDEL nior writer at Business Week (1986-2004). Awards Chairman: VALERIE S. KOMOR DAVID A. ANDELMAN, Editor More recently, he has written for Forbes. CAROL LAWSON Michael S. Serrill Website: com and was a contributing writer to the BEN PATRUSKY now defunct Condé Nast Portfolio. His Co-chairs: Jack Deacy, Valerie Ko- ANNE ROIPHE BEN PATRUSKY, mor. Intern: Benjamin Long MYRON RUSHETZKY MORT SHEINMAN, Co-editors books include “Born to Steal,” focusing on WENDY SCLIGHT the infiltration of Wall Street by the Mafia Judges: Linda Amster, Betsy Ashton, MORT SHEINMAN Webmaster: (2003); “Wall Street Versus America,” on Kathy Brady, Suzanne Charle, Jack FRED HERZOG the morality of Wall Street, its regulators Deacy, Bill Diehl, Jerry Eskenazi, Al- GOVERNORS EMERITI: and the financial press (2006); and “Ayn Social Media: lan Dodds Frank, Tony Guida, Herbert GARY PAUL GATES BILL DIEHL Rand Nation: The Hidden Struggle for Hadad, Fred Herzog, Myron Kandel, HERBERT HADAD America’s Soul,” an analysis of Objec- Valerie Komor, Bernard Kirsch, Tony GARY PAUL GATES tivism and its influence on political and LINDA GOETZ HOLMES SILURIAN CONTINGENCY FUND Mancini, Anne Roiphe, Steven Marcus, ROBERT D. McFADDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES: economic development in the United States (2012). Ben Patrusky, Michael Serrill, Gail LEO MEINDL STEVEN MARCUS, CHAIR Sheehy, and Mort Sheinman.