LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD DINNER Honoring Ken Auletta National Arts Club 15 Gramercy Park South Monday, November 19, 2018 Drinks: 6 P.M. • Dinner: 7:15 P.M. Published by The Society of the Silurians., an organization Reserve by mail; questions to Aileen Jacobson of veteran New York City journalists founded in 1924 [email protected]

NOVEMBER 2018 Journalists Join Forces to Fight Trump Smears as Threats Escalate BY ALLAN DODDS FRANK

This story was written before a pipe bomb was sent to CNN and a gunman attacked a synagogue killing 11.

etters to the editor – not tele- phoned death threats – are the Lindex newspapers normally rely on to measure the impact of their opinion pages. But visceral reactions count also, so score one for the Boston Globe follow- ing the arrest of Robert Darrell Chain, a 68-year-old Encino, California man indict- ed for phoning in 14 obscenity-laced death threats to the paper. For Chain, who claims President Donald Trump “saved the country,” the trigger was the Aug. 10 announcement by the Globe enlisting newspaper editorialists to chal- lenge the President’s claim that the free press is the “enemy.” Chain called twice that day, before the editorials had even been published, to threaten: “You are the enemy of the people and we are going to shoot you all.” The paper immediately alerted the FBI and local authorities while hiring a private security firm to guard the building and its employees. Within three weeks, the FBI tracked down Chain, discovered he had Robert Darrell Chain called in a series of death threats to the Globe. He was arrested in Encino, California. Continued on Page 2 Not “Just a Journalist” KEN AULETTA: AN APPRECIATION BY MICHAEL S. SERRILL The Silurians gave their first Life- time Achievement Award to Walter inda Greenhouse is a rebel. Cronkite in 1969, and he was followed Those of us who spent decades by a long chain of boldface journalis- reading her highly professional, tic names: from Pete Hamill to Jack L Newfield to Gloria Steinem to 2017’s often deeply analytical stories on the Steve Shepard. We have special affec- latest Supreme Court decisions in The th New York Times never thought of her that tion for the 46 recipient of the award, way. But it turns out that throughout her Ken Auletta, because his specialty is career, sometimes quietly and sometimes the foibles of the modern media. Ken forcefully, she questioned one of the very has written for The New Yorker since foundations of journalistic practice for 1977. We asked that magazine’s editor the last century: the requirement to be to reminisce. “objective” and “fair and balanced” in our coverage of daily news events. BY DAVID REMNICK In her new book, Just a Journalist, and in a Sept. 26 talk at a packed luncheon en Auletta, who started out sponsored by the Society of Silurians, on Coney Island, has made Greenhouse explained that her goal in Ka singular journalistic career her journalism was to tell the truth, not to at least in part by having an uncanny present “he said, she said” reportage that knack for knowing where the story is leaves the reader as much in the dark as and when attention is demanded. He when she started. She writes that she was has instincts. “fascinated and thrilled” when in 2016 The As a young man, Ken focused on New York Times began openly challeng- Democratic Party politics, on the ing, in its own voice, the veracity of state- campaigns of Robert F. Kennedy and ments by presidential candidate Donald Ex-Times reporter businessman-turned-politician Howard Silurians Lifetime Samuels. Although I have never known Trump. The dam broke on Sept. 17, she Linda Greenhouse at the Achievement Award Continued on Page 7 Continued on Page 4 Silurian luncheon recipient Ken Auletta PAGE 2 SILURIAN NEWS NOVEMBER 2018 President’s Report Journalists Greetings, Silurians Join Forces Continued from Page 1 BY DAVID A. ANDELMAN recently bought a rifle, and arrested him. ell, it’s been barely five The seven-count indictment against months since the ines- Chain gives us a transcription of his third timable Bernie Kirsch and fourth calls on April 13. It contains W these gems: “You are the enemy of the turned over the (virtual) gavel to yours people and we will hunt you down and truly, but we’ve already had some re- kill you and your dogs.... We’re gonna markable accomplishments. shoot you m----f----s in the head… we’re • We’ve changed our name gonna shoot every f----ing one of you.” to The Silurians Press Club, so that Undeterred by the threats, the Globe’s the uninitiated will understand more effort to kindle a rational, nationwide immediately – though the new name editorial response to Trump’s attacks on won’t be official until the legal niceties the free press produced an explosion of are resolved (in this age of instant com- support on August 16, when nearly 450 munications) what we are all about. newspapers weighed in on their editorial • We’ve created a Press Free- pages. Perhaps more important, local dom Committee under the leadership and national broadcasters also offered of ex-president Allan Dodds Frank, extensive coverage of the theme “Jour- and one of our newest Silurians, Bill nalists Are Not The Enemy.” The Re- Collins. publican-controlled U.S. Senate added a • symbolic gesture by unanimously passing We’ve embarked on a detailed a resolution “reaffirming the vital and study of our Awards program, master- indispensable role the free press serves.” Majorie Pritchard of the Boston Globe launched an initiative that minded by Jack Deacy. Silurian President David A. Andelman • We’ve added a video screen resulted in editorials in 456 newspapers protesting Donald Trump’s praises the Globe’s initiative. “The only attacks on the media. at the National Arts Club which, to- real guarantee of a strong and unfettered gether with a new sound system, will democracy is a fearless free press. All jour- allow even the furthest bleachers at our nalists need to stand up for their peers and A sampling of the editorials: county board funneling money to private monthly luncheons to see and hear all their craft,” says Andelman. “The Silurians, schools, the impact of Medicaid privat- that’s going on at the podium. This will Overseas Press Club, and the Committee to The Boston Globe: ization in Iowa or the effects of tariffs on allow us to expand our attendance to at Protect Journalists intend to mount a joint “Trump can’t outlaw the press from Iowa farmers and livestock producers, least 170 so that all the new members effort on behalf of ourselves and our col- doing its job here, of course. But the model or providing information people need to Mort Sheinman has been so diligently leagues, wherever they may be threatened of inciting his supporters in this regard is recover from floods and tornadoes, all recruiting will have an opportunity to or challenged.” how 21st-century authoritarians like Vlad- covered by Register journalists in recent participate. imir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan op- months.” “Time to Defend Ourselves” Even the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, It’s all part of my effort to bring erate; you don’t need formal censorship to strangle a supply of information. Trump’s where the libertarian editorial director our organization into the forefront of The inspiration for the nationwide edito- apologists feebly insist that he is referring Keith Burris and owner John Robinson journalist organizations. I was struck a rial outpouring came August 6th from Mar- only to biased coverage, rather than the Block recently fired anti-Trump cartoonist short time ago when, in an email, Anika jorie Pritchard, the deputy managing editor entire fourth estate. But the president’s Rob Rogers, got in the act. Under the head- Legrand-Wittich, a press representative in charge of the Globe’s opinion pages. own words and long track record show line, “No more enemies: Trump and the of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, called us Pritchard tells the Silurian News: “Every again and again just how deeply cynical press must practice mutual respect,” the “the Luncheon Society of the Siluri- time the President said the media is ‘fake and dishonest this argument is.” editorial said: “Indeed the president must ans.” While I like to think our monthly news’ and we are ‘the enemy of the people,’ know that, as a matter of constitutional get-togethers have allowed us to come it really started getting under my skin. All : law – the First Amendment -- the press can in contact with some remarkable indi- the journalists I know are hard-working “... insisting that truths you don’t like never be the enemy of the people.” viduals and thought-provoking ideas, people and I just thought we should all are ‘fake news’ is dangerous to the life- But then the Post-Gazette, once a we are about more than just lunch. stand up for ourselves. I reached out to blood of democracy. And calling journal- revered moderate liberal voice that has Already this year, we’ve had some several newspapers and to several press ists the ‘enemy of the people’ is dangerous, veered hard right since Block installed extraordinary speakers. Linda Green- associations and they in turn sent out an period. Burris over the editorial page in early email blast to all their members.” house, who was The New York Times These attacks on the press are par- 2018, launched a broadside at Pritchard Large newspapers, small newspapers, ticularly threatening to journalists in and the Globe. “Today’s collective edito- Supreme Court correspondent for newspapers in all 50 states, responded to the nations with a less secure rule of law rial was organized by Marjorie Pritchard decades, described for us in vivid Globe’s clarion call almost immediately. and to smaller publications in the United of The Boston Globe, a newspaper where detail the state of the court the very “All those newspapers came together in States, already buffeted by the industry’s few if any praises have been showered week Brett Kavanaugh and Christine defense of the free press; I thought that economic crisis.” on the president for any policy and there Blasey Ford were testifying before the was a huge outpouring,” says Pritchard. is precious little curiosity about Trump Senate Judiciary Committee. (I’ve long “I was not expecting any death threats and The Tampa Times: voters. The Globe is part of the national believed that in journalism, as in life, was certainly alarmed when they came in. “A free press builds the foundation for media echo chamber.... Just as his lack of timing is almost everything.) Then, in This effort was a defense of freedom of democracy. Citizens depend on honest, restraint has often been the president’s November, at the invitation of Silurians the press, but the threats also showed the independent media for accurate informa- self-inflicted wound, the bias of some Governor Clyde Haberman, we heard danger of the president’s rhetoric against tion they need about their government, of the press has hurt journalism, at the Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., chairman of the media.” their elected leaders and their institutions. very moment when it most needed to the New York Times Corp., talk about Pritchard says the message is simple: “It That is just as important in Tampa Bay and save itself.” how his organization is thriving—sor- is our job to hold institutions and govern- in communities across the nation as it is When I asked Pritchard whether Mr. ry, you’re wrong Mr. Trump—in the ments at all levels accountable. This is just in Washington, and the Times takes that Chain was known to her paper, she what we do. And it was time collectively responsibility seriously.” laughed: “I don’t know if he is a Boston new world of digital journalism. to remind people of that.” Globe subscriber, but he certainly knew And no, we are not restricting Some big papers, including the Wash- The Daily Herald, our phone number. He picked up the ourselves to Timesfolk. Thanks to the ington Post and Los Angeles Times, Arlington Heights, Ill.: phone several times.” suggestion of another distinguished declined to join the effort for reasons of “We could start, of course, with his Pritchard hopes newspapers will keep former president, Mike Kandel, we “editorial independence.” Still, the ed- repeated declaration that the press is the the dialogue going by sponsoring panels are bestowing our lifetime achieve- itorial blitz was a success. Although its ‘enemy of the people,’ a characterization on the importance of the free press. From ment award on Ken Auletta, who is lasting effects may be hard to measure, he declared in a tweet just last week: ‘They the time Trump started campaigning, it deeply immersed in the world of Har- Prichard believes the campaign gave life [news outlets] purposely cause great di- has been shocking to watch an American vey Weinstein for his next book and to “a conversation on the importance of vision & distrust,’ he tweeted on Aug. 5. president deride the journalists who cover continues to enlighten readers of The the First Amendment.” ‘They can also cause War! They are very him—and cheer on the thuggish minority New Yorker, at least as competently Pritchard loved the variety. “The part dangerous & sick!’... We repeat: This is who would do us harm. As for Mr. Chain, as he manages the Writers Team each about it that was nice was that the editorial dangerous. It is the language of despots he might be happier if he gave up threat- summer in the East Hampton Artists & boards did it in their own words; it wasn’t -- Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Chavez, Mao and ening news organizations and started Writers charity softball game. a universal statement,” she says. “Freedom countless other individuals and organi- reading the Post-Gazette. of the press means something different in And I like to think this is only the zations who style themselves as the only Boston than it does in another part of the legitimate representatives for the masses.” Allan Dodds Frank is a veteran of sev- beginning. Watch this space (or, in country. So it was their own take on it. eral news organizations. Full Disclosure: between, your inbox) for more exciting “The ones that I really liked said jour- The Des Moines Register: his first paying job in journalism was his developments in the ongoing Saga of nalists are not the enemy of the people; “Reporting on growing federal deficits, 1968 summer internship at the Post-Ga- the Silurians. they have kids in the same school as climate change, disasters, voting records zette. As a cub reporter, he failed to con- David A. Andelman you, they are in the same supermarkets of lawmakers, government spending, im- vince the editors that he should be sent to President, with you,” Pritchard continues. “I really migration and numerous other important Chicago to cover the Democratic National Silurians Press Club thought that brought it down to the essence and controversial issues every day is not Convention because college students were of what a journalist is.” ‘fake news.’ Neither is reporting on a going to raise a ruckus. NOVEMBER 2018 SILURIAN NEWS PAGE 3

would snatch their children out of their truck. He has even made it more difficult arms and ship them somewhere where that for naturalized citizens to bring their closest An Immigrant’s Lament they would not see them again for months relatives over. BY JOSEPH BERGER birth to me there before heading west to join or longer. (At last count, 500 Latino chil- Trump should know that it is immigrants the flood of refugees. dren still had not been returned to their from hardscrabble backgrounds--especially hen you still harbor memories We arrived on a wobbly Merchant Ma- parents.) I can easily imagine my mother in his native New York--who help keep the of immigrating to this coun- rine vessel, the SS General Greeley, that throwing herself at any official that would country running and produce children who try, it’s particularly disturbing had earlier been used to transport troops dare take her children away, beating them are so eager to prove themselves American W with her fists or clawing them with her that they soon become a major feeder of to see the scenes last summer of families to the European theater. Refugees like us from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador were aided by organizations such as the fingernails. Basic animal instincts take students at our best colleges and doctors at and Mexico arriving at the U.S. border and Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) over and observance of the law becomes our finest hospitals. finding their lives torn apart, as hysterical and the American Joint Distribution Com- inconsequential. My parents’ generation of haggard children are ripped from powerless parents mittee. We were placed in an SRO hotel on No, whatever hardships they endured postwar refugees worked hard to rebuild and sent off half a continent away to foster New York’s Upper West Side. Our entry in their first years did not include the kind their lives and they produced children who care. was relatively painless, yet the uncertain- of greeting the Central American families imbibed their habits of resourcefulness and My family immigrated to this country ties my parents carried with them weighed have had to endure. Ultimately my parents diligence and grew up to become Andrew in 1950 after spending five years in so- as heavily as the valises and duffel bags were extremely grateful at what America Grove, a founder of Intel, architect Daniel called displaced persons camps in Europe they lugged. With almost no marketable had to offer. They both got factory jobs, Libeskind, Hadassah Lieberman, wife of the because Congress and the State Depart- skills, would they find jobs in a country they were soon able to house themselves in vice presidential candidate, fashion designer ment were not yet willing to drop quotas whose language they did not speak? Would an apartment on West 102d Street, and their Diane von Furstenberg, CNN anchor Wolf and open the U.S. to thousands of Jewish they be able to afford apartments in the children found decent schools. They proud- Blitzer and so many others less celebrated Holocaust survivors. We may have been tight postwar housing market? Would they ly attended an annual patriotic extravaganza but essential to our well-being. I also think illegals too because during the Red Scare be able to locate the relatives who might in Central Park called “I Am an American of all the journalists that I know who were years my parents, Polish Jews fleeing the guide them in gaining a foothold in New Day.” [https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov- immigrants or children or grandchildren of Nazis, concealed an important fact from York? Would they make friends to replace /2014/09/17/i-am-an-american/] immigrants who fell in love with the sup- American officials: that they had survived the communities the Germans destroyed? A congressional proclamation created the pleness of the English language and who much of World War II by making their way One thing they did not have to worry special day in 1940 to celebrate the bountiful might have never graced their newspapers, to the Soviet Union. They married and gave about was whether American officials gift of American citizenship with speeches, magazines and TV stations if the current re- music and celebrities. My parents mocked strictive policies were in place: Max Frankel, those who would unfavorably compare the Ralph Blumenthal, Clyde Haberman, Ben opportunities in America to those in the So- Patrusky, Sam Norich, Jean Patman, Ray viet Union and communist Eastern Europe. Corio, David Chen, Winnie Hu and so many Goodbye to the Village Voice They had lived in those places and knew more. How much poorer our profession, our how corrupt, prejudiced and dysfunctional nation, would be without them. they were. The policy the Administration ought Our current President wants to limit to be pursuing is embodied in the slogan the right of immigration and citizenship to of HIAS: “Welcome the Stranger. Protect the well-heeled, well-educated and those the Refugee.” who subscribe to a Judeo-Christian faith. He looks at a refugee and sees a rapist. He Berger, a member of the Board of Gover- has no tolerance for families so desperate nors of the Society of Silurians, is a former to escape the violence and poverty in their reporter and editor for The New York Times. own lands and take advantage of American His 2001 book about his family’s immi- freedoms and security that they risk cross- gration experience, Displaced Persons, is ing a desert or ride for hours in an airless available from Amazon.

The three founders of the Village Voice planning their first issue in the fall of 1955. Left to right: Norman Mailer, Ed Fancher, Dan Wolf.

BY CLARK WHELTON paper business in New York City, Powers kept the picket lines up. fter a run of 63 years, the Village The strike stretched into weeks, the Voice, which closed in August, weeks to months. The dailies would even- Ajoins the long list of former New tually lose $100 million. Their employees York City newspapers. But the Voice would would lose another $50 million in wages not have existed at all if not for fellow and benefits. For the Village Voice, how- Silurian Ed Fancher, who founded the ever, the long strike was a godsend that Voice (along with Dan Wolf and Norman helped transform the tiny paper into the Mailer) in 1955. best-known weekly in the country, an icon As publisher, Fancher guided the Voice of American counterculture. through difficult years. Bankruptcy was So the sad fate of the Voice has special sometimes a postdated check away. Then, irony. Early computers helped save the on December 8, 1962, a fateful moment paper, but in the past few years digital tech- for journalism in New York, Local 6 of the nology helped drive it out of business. The International Typographical Union (ITU) Voice’s profitable classifieds and display called a strike against four New York City ads moved online. Even free distribution dailies. Three others shut down in solidar- and online-only publishing couldn’t com- ity, effectively leaving New York without pete with the web. daily papers for the Christmas season. Bert Powers couldn’t stop automated Advertisers were desperate for other typesetting. The Voice had no answer for outlets. The Eagle went from the internet. 50,000 readers to 390,000. WABC-FM All in all, the Voice had a great run. went to an all-news format. And some Sixty-three years ain’t bad, considering advertisers discovered a thin Greenwich that Penn Station, an architectural gem and Village weekly. The Voice jumped from symbol of the city, only lasted 53. 24 to 36 pages. Newsstand sales soared. Ed Fancher has every right to be proud For the first time, money rolled in. of what he created. And at the age of 95 he, It looked like the strike would be unlike the Voice, is still going strong. settled quickly. But the real issue was not money or hours. Bert Powers, head Silurians member Clark Whelton was of Local 6, knew that automation made a staff writer for the Village Voice, and printing newspapers faster, cheaper, and speechwriter for Mayor Ed Koch. This easier. If new computerized systems were story is adapted from his City Journal allowed in newsrooms and printing plants, article, “Fiber Yields to Cyber”; https:// ITU typesetters would lose their jobs. In www.city-journal.org/html/fiber-yields-cy- a kamikaze attack that wrecked the news- ber-15414.html. PAGE 4 SILURIAN NEWS NOVEMBER 2018 Veering Off Tobacco Road BY ANNE ROIPHE Tobacco Institute. Hold on to the papers.” I held on. I was frightened but it was clear hen I was 22, I took a job as who the bad guys were. the receptionist at a public The newsmen got the story. All the Wrelations firm to support major papers printed it. It has been my playwright husband. I answered the demonstrated, the science tells us, cig- phone. I typed up notes from client meet- arette smoking is directly connected to ings. I ran out for coffee and danishes. death from cancer in the lungs. Of course A year before, I had been reading Keats everyone was smoking--me too. I wasn’t and T.S. Elliot at Sarah Lawrence. The inhaling but I pretended. Smoking made real world was more than disappointing; me look sophisticated, I thought. It also it was depressing. made me cough. I extinguished far more The firm had a client, the American cigarettes than I put to my lips. Public Health Association. They held a My mother smoked three packs of convention in Atlantic City and I was Camels a day. She was in a Miami Beach invited to work there. My job was to hand hotel one day when the magician Joseph out to the press the articles that had been Dunninger gave a performance. He asked presented at meetings held all over the anyone who wanted to quit smoking to hotel. I stacked the papers on a long table. come to the stage. My mother volun- I knew where each of them was. It was teered. Dunninger told her to close her quiet in the press room. I daydreamed. eyes and when he snapped his fingers she Suddenly there was a rush into the would open them, light a cigarette and as press room. Reporters pushed forward to soon as she inhaled she would feel deathly get to the table where the papers of the sick and never want to smoke again. He day were neatly stacked; the Daniel Horn snapped his fingers. She opened her eyes paper was what they were after. It was and went down from the stage and lit a people didn’t need a hypnotist to quit. So now we are all health mad. We about the dangers of smoking. He and a cigarette. She immediately felt sick and Many, however, have struggled and lost know more than we have ever known colleague had found a definite connection ran to the bathroom. When the vomiting repeatedly. The rebels and drunkards I about the causes of illness and death. between smoking and lung cancer. The stopped, she washed her face and went knew, the outliers and bad boys, kept on We have a million prescriptions and our reporters with copies of the paper were outside on the terrace and pulled out an- and on even as the facts became more and medicine cabinets are swollen with hope rushing to phones in the lobby of the other cigarette. This time she felt queasy more convincing. for eternal life. hotel, screaming at each other and at me. but she smoked the cigarette to its end Now I look back on the tobacco indus- But sometimes I recall myself as a Suddenly, three large men pushed their and returned to her table. So much for try thugs that wanted to grab those papers young woman sitting in a Jazz club on way up to the press table. I want all the the power of suggestion. out of my hand and I think of them as 52nd street, my cigarette stained with Horn papers, one said. I grabbed them One by one, friends and acquaintances evil-doers, as criminals. But I do wonder red lipstick, my heart in Ella Fitzgerald’s and held them in my arms. One actually stopped smoking. I was still smoking what else is carcinogenic that we don’t yet hands, and I think it was good to have put his hands on me. The reporters in the when I had my first child; I remember know about. Who is hiding what science once been a bad girl. room shouted at me not to give them any- dropping ashes on my daughter’s head from us now? Maybe it’s something in thing. I remember a lot of noise and then while I was nursing. But I soon gave our beloved phones. Of course that way Silurian Anne Roiphe is a writer and someone said, “Those guys are with the it up. It took a long time but reasonable lies paranoia. journalist.

draw. But that is not happening. [Note: page by page, make my little marginal Kavanaugh had not been confirmed when notes, figure out what I thought about it, Not “Just a Journalist” she spoke.] So will there be a cloud over then get on the Metro and go back to the Continued from Page 1 necessarily know what they’re talking his 30 or 40 years on the court? Speaking bureau and start writing for a deadline of notes, with the headline, “Trump Gives about—or who know less than the re- personally, having lived for 30 years with- mid-afternoon. … Up a Lie But Refuses to Repent,” which porters themselves. She noted that the in a stone’s throw of the [Maryland] high Now what all the reporters, including was above a story saying that Trump had Times since 2003 had quoted a University schools that are under discussion here, I my estimable successor Adam Liptak, do finally, though reluctantly, acknowledged of Richmond law professor named Carl totally believe it. I raised a daughter in that on major cases is write two versions of that President Barrack Obama was born Tobias more than 100 times on a variety atmosphere and I am having almost PTSD the story, to be topped with a lede [when in the . It was the first time of topics. “Tobias generates many of these myself realizing how close one’s daughters the decision comes down]. In my way the Times had ever called any politician encounters with reporters,” she writes in were to disaster every time one of these of thinking that is tragic… My context a liar in its news columns. Just a Journalist. “I mean no criticism of guys got within two blocks of them. is, here is how the court went this way, In her remarks to the Silurians, Green- him,” but “his only project, as far as I can when it might have gone that way, there house noted that on the prior day Trump tell, is to get his name in the paper.” And Do you think Roe v. Wade will be is a nuanced difference in this and that. had made a speech to the United Nations. reporters looking to balance or fill out a overturned? You can’t do that anymore, and what In the Times story on his presentation, story with expert commentary are too Yes, actually I do. They’ve not only becomes salient in the background of the “the reporter wrote that …’the president quick to pick this kind of “low-hanging waited 40 years on abortion, but also on case is really what the court does with said, without evidence’ …. Now we are fruit,” she writes. affirmative action, on religion, you name the case. I would have been so miserable used to that. But that is astonishing. That The former Times reporter tells in it. Race generally. having to do it in the current age that …I would never have happened two years her book about being called on the car- wouldn’t have. I would just have had to ago. [In my book] I end with the question, pet twice by her editors and others for What about precedent? take another beat or move into a cave. whether something in the DNA of main- breaches of the old rule that reporters It is always possible for the Supreme stream journalism has changed because must remain scrupulously neutral on all Court to overturn precedent. There was On the Supreme Court’s decision to of this experience or whether after Trump political issues. In the first instance she nothing more settled in the law than a uphold the Affordable Care Act: we will revert back to these ingrained attended a pro-choice abortion march 1971 case that held that the First Amend- All these major news outlets got it habits of many years--whether the Trump without the cover of press credentials. ment was not violated by a system of wrong because the headnote, the official years are an anomaly or whether it will In the second she made a speech at Rad- public employee unions requiring that court summary of the opinion, said on change something in the willingness of cliffe College, her alma mater, endorsing people that opt out of the union pay their the first page we strike it down under the the mainstream media to confront untruth Supreme Court decisions on gay marriage fair share of the union dues--the agency Commerce Clause and the second page and not believe there always has to be and other topics, and criticizing the Bush fee. That was settled law, reaffirmed nu- said we uphold it as a tax. These people another side to the story.” Administration’s “law-free” operation of merous times. Justice Sam Alito decided were under such time pressure that they Greenhouse told the Silurians that her the prison at Guantanamo Bay. In both he really didn’t like that precedent, so he couldn’t turn the page. …It is a serious rebellion against journalistic convention cases she was acting and speaking as a teed it up to a few cases and it was over- challenge. dated to her debut in the Times’ Wash- citizen rather than a journalist, she writes, turned in June. That was in my opinion ington bureau in the 1970s. “When I first adding that “prevailing norms fix too rigid the most important decision of the term. What does the coverage of the Ka- got to Washington from Albany, I was a a boundary between the two roles.” It hasn’t gotten sufficient attention for vanaugh affair tell you about politics kind of baby reporter,” she said. “The first Greenhouse, who left the Times in what it tells us about the attachment of and the media? story I wrote in Washington was read by 2008 and now teaches at Yale Law the Roberts court to the notion of stare The mainstream coverage has been Johnny Apple, deputy bureau chief. He School, answered questions from the decisis—standing by that which was straight and fair. I don’t personally watch came up to me and said if you quote a Silurians and their guests on a variety of decided—and I think people are kidding Fox News—life is too short--but people few law professors I can get it on page topics, most related to the then still-sim- themselves if they think it will stop there. imbued with that point of view believe in one. And I said to Johnny, ‘I don’t care if mering controversy over the nomination all sincerity that something really unfair it’s on page D25, it is what it is. I know of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme On how technology has affected [was] being perpetrated on the country. what I’m talking about.’ In the course of Court. Excerpts: reporting on the court. We don’t have common ground; we don’t my time at the Times, if I was known for I left just in time, before I lost my have Walter Cronkite. It is a problem. anything it was for never quoting any- On the Kavanaugh nomination: ability to do things the old-fashioned way. body—other than quotes from opinions.” The Republicans have waited for 40 The Times indulged me for a couple of Michael Serrill is First Vice President In Greenhouse’s view journalists, in years to get control of the court. And years after it went digital. I would get the of the Society of Silurians. He covered the name of fairness and balance, spend they’re close. This is their main chance… opinions at 10 in the morning and my hab- the Supreme Court for Time magazine in too much time quoting people who don’t My thought was that he would with- it was to simply sit and read the opinion the 1980s.

NOVEMBER 2018 SILURIAN NEWS PAGE 5 “REPORTS OF OUR DEATH WERE GREATLY EXAGGERATED” On Oct. 17 the Silurians were honored the print newspaper ever had subscribers. to host Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, chairman These new offerings are neither of The New York Times and former pub- gimmicks nor indulgences. Rather, they lisher, for a luncheon at the National Arts provide our journalists with a larger and Club. He was introduced by Silurians better toolkit to do what they’ve long Governor Clyde Haberman, who noted excelled at: helping people understand with a smile that he was Sulzberger’s boss the world. Our bets on the web and on when they both worked for The Times’ expanded reach set the stage for our third metro section in the 1980s. Sulzberger gamble, perhaps the biggest one we’ve gave an upbeat report on the present and made in the last decade. That was our future of The Times, while noting that his decision to put up a paywall. son A.G. Sulzberger is the one steering There was an early consensus that you the ship today as publisher. Excerpts from couldn’t expect readers to pay for online Sulzberger’s presentation: news. And when I announced our pay model, I became painfully aware of that BY ARTHUR O. SULZBERGER consensus. Let me read you a few headlines hen Clyde first asked me to from 2011: “Why Newspaper Paywalls speak here today, the first are Still a Bad Idea,” wrote Bloomberg. Wthing I did was make sure it “Why the New York Times Will Lose to wasn’t a mistake. When people request a The Huffington Post,” wrote Wired. And Sulzberger these days, they usually mean my favorite, “Here’s an Idea for Saving my son. But as Clyde alluded to, he can the New York Times: Don’t Charge. In- relate. When people want a Haberman, stead, Fire Arthur Sulzberger.” That was they usually mean Maggie. … from The HuffPo. I became publisher of The New York In those days, The Financial Times and Times in 1992, when the paper was The Wall Street Journal had paywalls, the beating heart of a large, diversified Arthur Ochs Sulzberger but much of their subscription revenue media company. Clyde actually wrote came from businesses buying in bulk. It The Times’ story about my first day as the early 1980s. Neither quite worked. censors as retaliation for our investigative was unclear whether individual readers chairman of the company, in 1997, five But we learned from our mistakes and, reporting. Still, Chinese readers evade would be willing to pay. But our hunch years after becoming publisher. That day in the 1990s, made another push. Many the “Great Firewall” to read millions of was right, and our readers signed up in saw the single largest daily edition of people questioned the wisdom of our articles each year. droves. The year after the paywall was The Times in our history—138 advertise- expansion. They thought we wouldn’t Naturally, this expansion has been introduced marked the point at which our ment-filled pages. Between the industry’s be able to attract the national advertising good for business. At a time when our subscription revenue began to exceed our health and our company’s momentum, the dollars necessary to sustain the endeavor. U.S. readership is growing faster than advertising revenue. Today, nearly two- road ahead seemed smooth. But I sensed that people in California, ever, our international readership is thirds of the company’s revenue comes But then, of course, something hap- Texas, and Illinois would appreciate the growing even faster. And these readers are directly from our readers. We now earn pened: The Internet. If you’re not famil- depth and breadth of Times journalism reaching into their wallets to subscribe. more from digital subscriptions than from iar, I encourage you to it. The just as much as our readers in New York, We now have subscribers in nearly every print advertising. advertising-supported business model New Jersey, and Connecticut. And sure country in the world, from Papua New At a moment of tumult in the advertis- that sustained our newspapers for more enough, they did. Going national expand- Guinea to Kazakhstan. Ten years ago, that ing industry and increasing dominance by than a century strained, and then started to ed the vision of what our paper could be. would have been inconceivable. the duopoly of Google and Facebook, this buckle. And that was before the financial Not only was it profitable, it was perfectly Our digital innovation began when subscription revenue has been central to crisis. we launched our website, the health and vitality of The New York In January 2009, as the nytimes.com, on Jan. 22, Times. It took us more than three and a economy was in free-fall, ‘In the three years since 1996. On an average day half years to reach 1 million digital sub- a feature story appeared back then, just 25,000 people scriptions. It took less than half that time in The Atlantic. It was President Trump first called us the visited our site. There were to sign up the second million. headlined “End Times,” other obstacles, besides the And as the term “fake news” was and it suggested that The “failing New York Times” our stock meager traffic. Some of thrust into the national conversation, we New York Times was on price has climbed more than 72 percent.’ my Times colleagues were added over 300,000 subscribers in the the verge of going under. so suspicious of the digital first three months of the new adminis- While reports of our death operation that I had to move tration. In the three years since President were greatly exaggerated, the article did aligned with our mission. It rooted us that group out of the building. We found Trump first called us the “failing New identify a very real set of challenges: more deeply in the communities we were separate office space a few blocks away, York Times” our stock price has climbed declining circulation, declining revenue, already covering. It not only expanded which gave our digital pioneers a safe more than 72 percent. and declining cash reserves. Needless to the kinds of stories we could tell, but also space to grow and innovate. We kept Today, we have 3.8 million print and say, The Atlantic, thank goodness, had it extended the impact of our reporting. investing in our digital effort, and even- digital subscriptions— more than ever wrong. The New York Times is still in And it paved the way for our global ex- tually it caught on. before, and more than any American business. In fact, we’re thriving. pansion. The Times has long had a major I’ll never forget one day in the late newspaper has ever had, even in the A fifth generation of the Ochs-Sulz- international presence, with journalists on 1990s, when our remarkable columnist, golden age of print journalism. These berger family is now at the helm, among the ground in over 150 countries around Tom Friedman, came to me with a story: subscriptions are the foundation of a them —my son, A.G., and his cousins, the world. But even though The Times He said, “Arthur, the most amazing thing fundamentally different business model. Sam Dolnick, a top masthead editor, and reported from all over the world, we just happened to me. I was on a flight from We make journalism that is so original, David Perpich, who runs the Wirecutter weren’t doing enough to attract readers Tokyo to New York. The man seated next useful, and engaging that millions of peo- and sits on the company’s executive around the world. We’d been co-owners to me says, ‘You’re Tom Friedman!’ And ple want to pay for it. Readers know the committee. of The International Herald Tribune since I said yes, yes I am. And he said, I just great lengths we’ll go to find and confirm But it was far from a foregone conclu- 1967, and we assumed full ownership in read your new column. To which I replied, the facts—and they’re much more likely sion that we would be in the position of 2003. But the Trib had always been more that’s impossible. We’re in Japan. He to regularly read and subscribe to The strength and stability we enjoy today. We of an expat’s newspaper, especially in the looked me in the eye and said, “‘I read it... Times because of it. got there, in large part, because of three early days. That started to change when on the Internet..et.’” That really hit home And that, in turn, supports our ambi- big bets we made during my tenure as we unified the paper under The New York for Tom, who became an early and effec- tions. We were able to do these things— publisher. These decisions not only kept Times name and began integrating our tive evangelist for our web expansion. win on the web, go national and now The Times alive—they renewed and rein- newsrooms around the world into a truly Today, competition online is fierce and global, create a successful paywall— vigorated the enterprise. A single endur- 24/7 operation on three continents. constant—and it requires differentiation. because the loyalty of our readers never ing principle guided us through each of The improved New York Times Global Which is why we’ve leaned into, not wavered or waned. And that’s because these decisions: no matter the latest trend Edition is an important piece of what is away from, our commitment to quality. they know that no matter when, no matter or challenge, quality journalism would now a multifaceted strategy to expand And, in turn, we’ve stretched the bound- how, we will seek the truth and deliver it forever be our lodestar. As other news our worldwide readership. In 2016, we aries of what is possible in journalism. through journalism of the highest quality. organizations have been forced to cut, launched The New York Times En Es- Today, we’re using the web to redefine consolidate, close or chase clicks, The pañol, which offers original journalism storytelling. Words, photos, video, audio, Times has elevated quality journalism and in Spanish, as well as translated Times interactive graphics, data visualization, Society of the Silurians put our readers – and our mission--first. content. We’ve also expanded into Can- virtual reality, augmented reality—our PO Box 1195 Let me begin with our bet to go nation- ada and Australia, opening ambitious website and app are using each to bring Madison Square Station al. As some of you might remember, The operations in Toronto and Sydney. Since stories to life in the most compelling New York, NY 10159 Times began publishing a short-lived na- 2012, we’ve published a Chinese-lan- ways. And the results are breathtaking: 212.532.0887 tional edition in the 1960s and then made guage website with Times content, even our flagship audio program, The Daily, www.silurians.org a second attempt to broaden our reach in though it’s been blocked by government now has more listeners each morning than PAGE 6 SILURIAN NEWS NOVEMBER 2018 ENEMIES OF WHICH PEOPLE? BY MARVIN KITMAN Kelly, used the I-word, defaming the for the top job in the country? free airtime, according to the Washington nation’s idiots. Trump may be a moron, Once he won, I said we should mark Post (“The Most Trusted Name in Fake ur president has called the an imbecile, or simply intellectually chal- his performance on a curve while he is News” ) or The New York Times (“All media dishonest, hypocritical, lenged, as my defense ran. If he was an getting the hang of the job in the next four the Fake News That’s Fit to Print”). They Opurveyors of fake news, dis- idiot, he was America’s Idiot, a sizeable or eight years. were spending 24/7 covering every wild gusting, sleazy, traitors, the scum of the constituency, judging and crazy thing he said and did in 2016, earth... And those are the good things he by the election. There followed by panels the next two or three has said about us. He has run through the was one in every vil- nights discussing what it meant, thus thesaurus part of his twitter brain, calling lage, sometimes two sucking the air out of the other 15 candi- us everything but “ink-stained wretches.” or more. dates’ campaigns. Still, I keep wondering whom he has Some may have With the courage of their lack of in mind? It certainly couldn’t be me. As thought there was conviction, the guilty parties can argue a pundit I have gone out on the limb and something corrupt or that they were under the influence of that said he was the best president we have. un-American in the powerful drug, money, which can make a I admitted his election in 2016 was a way the president and broadcast outlet do anything. The clown miracle. Who would have ever dreamed the first family seemed act gets the highest ratings. that a totally inexperienced, unqualified to be profiting while Yes, Mister President, some of us are real estate developer could convince a in office, theoretically as guilty as sin. The minority of we-the-people he could make banned by the Emolu- Fake News Brigade should apologize America great again, especially when it ments Clause. But that for hurting a president’s feelings. Yes, already was pretty good? His election was the floundering we are sleazy, disgusting, untrustworthy was yoooge, as he would put it. fathers fault. Article traitors. If this be treason, so be it. And if True, I had been guilty of occasion- I, Section 8, the Santa this rallying to the flag doesn’t get a true ally checking my facts, distinguishing Clause, was so badly patriot like me on the president’s official what some people called “true facts” written a Mack truck enemies list, the nation’s highest honor from “alternative facts” and “no facts,” could be driven though (established in the Nixon administration), the president’s favorite kind. I had been its loopholes. Any- I will tell you what I really think of the known to source, or even double source, way, the Prez probably 45th president. my flattering essays about the groper- hadn’t read the docu- FOOTNOTE in-chief, identifying my usually reliably ment. The facts would To further show my support for the informed sources. Sometimes they were only confuse him. best president we have, I am planning unreliably informed sources or even Without meaning to donate my fee ($0) for this paean of unreliably uninformed sources, but all to further blow my praise to the Donald J. Trump Library, an highly placed. You can’t be too careful. own flugelhorn, I was establishment the size of the latest Apple I was the one who rejected the charge the one who said we cell phone, which will house the Official that the president was “a moron,” as Rex should give the man Collected Tweets of the President of Some Tillerson may or may not have called his a break. It isn’t easy of the People All the Time. boss, his most noteworthy achievement being president, es- as Secretary of State. I suggested that pecially when it all Silurian Marvin Kitman is the pundit- the peripatetic ex-CEO of ExxonMobil began as what satirists call a caper, a It must have been the other guys the in-chief of “The Marvin Kitman Show” might have called him “a Mormon,” stunt, perhaps research for his next book President had in mind. The cable news (Est. 1969), formerly of , now blaming jet lag. or a movie--a horror movie. The premise: networks were the real enemies of the available on the web site marvinkitman. And I went to bat for the President Could a totally inexperienced, unqualified people. They were the ones who gave com. His motto is: Often wrong, but never when his closest adviser, Gen. John real estate goniff actually win an election the first real estate mogul $2.4 billion in in doubt.

The publisher sends me on the kind First Assignment of red-carpet tour you don’t get anymore unless your name is – oh, I don’t know, BY MARTHA WEINMAN LEAR idea for Li’l Abner?” James Patterson? There are newspaper, “You have very pretty hair,” he said. radio, TV interviews, all local. Then, wow! had no business in this business. That Um. “Did you ever know anyone like I am invited to appear on The Tonight was made clear on the first day of Li’l Abner?” Show, with Johnny Carson. There is simply I my first year in journalism school, “Very pretty.” He leaned in closer. I no better vehicle for flogging a book than when the welcoming provost gazed out moved away. The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. My at our class – 120 males, 3 females – and “Are you shy?” he said. publisher is gaga. I am ecstatic verging on said: “And you girls, if you’re smart, “No.” nervous breakdown. you’ll walk out of here right now, because “Do you want to be a reporter?” The night arrives. In the Green Room, the newspaper business is no business for “Yes.” Carson graciously introduces my husband women.” “You can’t be a reporter if you’re shy.” and me to the evening’s other guests. Here I applied for a job on the college paper. He got up, moved behind the sofa and put is the actor Sterling Hayden. Here is the The editors gave me a trial assignment: to his hands on my shoulders. comedian Alan King. Here is… interview Al Capp. “Please, Mr. Capp,” I said. Oh, God. Adrenaline floods my throat. Al Capp, as anyone born before the “Please what?” he said. What should I do? Where can I hide? But 1970s must know, was the creator of Li’l The hands inched down. I jumped up. He clearly, the creep remembers nothing. He Abner, one of the most popular comic strips came around and pulled me close, grinding smiles and cordially extends the paw that of all time. It ran for four decades, through against me. I pushed free, and what ensued once groped me. the 1970s, was syndicated in 900 American was a Keystone Kops chase around the I am taken to the make-up room. It has newspapers and 100 foreign papers, and room. When he grabbed me again, I did the perpendicular mirrored walls. I am tilted had some 60 million supremely devoted only thing I could think to do: I punched back in a reclining chair and, in the mirror P.S. Several years later, Capp was fans, including me. him in the stomach, hard as I could, and to my left, I see him in his own reclining charged with indecent exposure and sexual I felt that my future, my everything, ran for the door. chair. He is staring at me. He is smirking. assault on various college campuses and hung on this assignment. I had never before I galloped down the stairs. At ground He speaks: kicked out of one by campus police. (Later conducted an interview. I had never before level, I heard a tinkling sound, turned and “So?” says the creep. “Have you still yet, actresses Goldie Hawn and Grace Kelly met a famous person. Over the decades saw him at the top, holding his belly. His got that dime?” both accused him of sexual assault.) He since then, I have interviewed scores of face was red. He yelled, “Here’s a dime,” On air, it’s payback time. He interrupts lost most of his syndication deals, saw his extremely famous people, but never have I which shows you how long ago this was. Carson, who is chatting me up about my reputation ruined, and goodbye. felt as nervous as when I went to interview “Call me when you grow up.” book, to ask, “How many children do you Well, you know. We remember the Al Capp. Flash forward a dozen years: I am have, Mrs. Lear?” None, I gulp. “Well, first of everything – first tooth, first love, I was 18 and cute. Dumb, but cute. He married, living in Connecticut, writing then,” he says, “you’re a real expert, aren’t first journalism assignment, first creep. was in his 40’s and not cute. He lived in a on contract for The New York Times you?” and laughs such a nasty heh heh As sexual assaults go, Capp’s was small second-floor apartment over some shops Magazine, my previous employer. I have that no one else laughs. In the commercial potatoes. Yet, more than six decades later, on Newbury Street, in downtown Boston. just published my first book. Titled The break, Carson whispers to me, “Don’t I remember every clammy detail. What I do He ushered me in, settled me into a cushy Child Worshippers, it’s about parents worry, we’ll take care of him.” And they not remember is how I got home. sofa, and sat down beside me. Since there who seek status through their children (an do. On air, the three men twist Capp into were plenty of other places to sit, I took aspect of what is now called helicopter a pretzel with a barrage of one-liners. I Silurian Martha Weinman Lear, a former this as a kindly, paternal way of making parenting). It is not a good book, really am saved. articles editor and staff writer for The New me feel welcome. – shallow, smart-ass, written by a woman Show over, with my husband waiting York Times Magazine, has written four I consulted my Ten Questions To Ask who is childless and so has never paid the in the Green Room, Carson takes me aside books, including Heartsounds and Where and opened with what I took to be a terrific dues – but it seems to have hit a nerve and and says, “Let’s have a drink in my dressing Did I Leave My Glasses?, and articles for question: “Mr. Capp, how did you get the has become a best-seller. room.” I decline, with thanks. many magazines.

NOVEMBER 2018 SILURIAN NEWS PAGE 7 THE JOY OF WRITING OBITS It’s not a grim duty at all, but a chance to write mini-bios and interview fascinating people.

BY BILL DIEHL in a newscast and by ABC affiliate radio ing. Bob Barker, of Price Is Right fame, ty good time, considering we’re all going stations, I’ve got to keep them short. I who is an animal rights activist, said, to die someday.” And this from another ere comes The Grim Reaper.” do, however, produce longer versions of “I know what I want on my tombstone: Allen, Woody, about being remembered: “ That’s how I’m greeted some- a minute or two that talk news stations, ‘Have your pets spayed and neutered.’” “You think Shakespeare cared about his Htimes when I arrive at our which have more airtime to spare, might Merv Griffin said he wanted, “I won’t legacy?” ABC Radio newsroom to start working find useful. be back after this message,” on his. As Another favorite quote came from on obituaries. It’s a job I began back in I love including funny clips in obits for Hugh Hefner, I used this quote from Sean Connery. In 1989, when People late 2007, when I retired--sort of. from stars I’ve interviewed. Harry Bela- that famous playboy to end the obit: “I magazine voted the original James Bond After a little farewell party, I was fonte, now 91, told me that a priest in the like to think I’ve made a difference, and the “Sexiest Man Alive,” Connery told told I was still needed to do obituaries confessional once began singing “Day-O” I’ve had an awfully good time doing it.” me, “Well, there aren’t many sexy dead in advance. At first, it seemed like a big to him. When I asked Cher about being If ever there was a man for all sea- men, are there?” downer, but then I discovered it was so outspoken, she said, “I don’t have sons, though, it was Steve Allen. He I told Tom Hanks he always seemed to have that “boy next door look” in his early films. “Yeah,” he said, “but some- times that boy next door is Ted Bundy.” George Carlin’s thoughts on life: “Life is a big game, it’s a big circus, a dumb comedy parade. There’s no man in the sky watching us.” Speaking of comedy, Mel Brooks said: “Comedy is one of the most dura- ble products known to man. [It has] the diamond-hard immortality that drama will never have, because it sanitizes the world.” Tony Curtis on kissing Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot: “To my surprise and disappointment, it was like kissing cement.” Alan Alda told me, “I don’t worry about being remembered; I’m worried about living forever. If you live forever you don’t have to worry about being remembered.” Some celebrities are so old that their obits will only need modest updates When Diehl reminded Steve Allen his name was once a household word, he quipped. “So is when they pass away. Dame Olivia de Drano.” Tony Curtis said smooching Marilyn Monroe “was like kissing cement.” Havilland, Oscar winning actress from Hollywood’s Golden Age, is 102. Anoth- er British-born Dame, Vera Lynn, known actually exciting preparing and voicing to explain myself to people. You like arrived for our interview with a tiny tape as the Forces Sweetheart because she was what are essentially mini-biographies. I me, you don’t. You like my work, you recorder. When I asked what it was for, so popular during World War II--singing often rely on old interviews I did years don’t.” When I called Carol Channing he replied, “I might say something great, songs like “The White Cliffs of Dover’ ago—on reel-to-reel tape!—with stars a “legend,” the original “Hello Dolly” providing raw material I can use later and “We’ll Meet Again”--is 101. ranging from Sean Connery to Cher. shot back, “No, I want to be called a on!” And when I told him that at one Advanced age doesn’t stop some Those two are still alive, but ABC will phenomenon!” time he was almost a household word, he celebrities. Betty White remains in the be ready on the day they ascend to the Howard Cosell, never humble, said, cracked, “So is Drano. If I were doing public eye at 96, while Doris Day, also Great Beyond. “Of course I’ve made a mark on sports. a show now, I could take a cucumber 96, her acting and singing days long gone, One thing that’s frustrating is that How can you question that, Bill? You and have a close-up of it every night protects our furry friends through her Do- my obits must be no more than 35 sec- know very well that I have. There will for ten nights, and I can assure you the ris Day Animal Rights League. We don’t onds—even for showbiz legends with not ever be another like me--sports jour- cucumber would begin to get fan mail.” know if she and Bob Barker collaborate. decades-long careers. That’s because, nalism is dead!” When I asked best-selling horror nov- these days, network newscasts are only While it’s often tricky to get celebri- elist Stephen King to share some of his Bill Diehl is a longtime radio news- about five minutes long, including com- ties to discuss how they’d like to be re- wisdom with ABC’s listeners, he replied, man, and a member of the Board of Gov- mercials, so if I want my obits to be used membered, some don’t need any prompt- “Well, I could tell them I’m having a pret- ernors of the Society of Silurians.

was intent, always, on ferreting out bullshit out compromise, about Microsoft, Google, have won the Pulitzer for Public Service KEN AULETTA: and injustice. He was also intent on explain- and the other titans of Silicon Valley; about without Ken’s encouragement of Farrow ing the complex in lucid terms, whether it the changes in television and advertising; and Ken’s own early digging. And this came AN APPRECIATION was a web of corruption in city government, about the revolution in news and the way naturally to him. Ken has been encouraging Continued from Page 1 a budding technology that was bound to we receive and generate information. Ken younger reporters for three decades as a him to mount a horse, Ken, to my lasting change our lives, or a structural inequity moves easily among movers and shakers–– judge of the Livingston Awards. astonishment, and maybe his own, was the in civic and economic life. they trust his integrity, his accuracy––but Now it is all well and correct to talk first executive director of Off-Track Bet- Among my favorite books of Ken’s early when circumstances warrant he always about Ken’s countless achievements––his ting. Thankfully, those early mists cleared career are The Underclass, which care- knows where first principles reside: in the books, his articles, his capacity to inter- and he found his way to the better pastures fully delineated the way poverty is lived work. He acts accordingly. view people on stage with equal measures of journalism--all kinds of journalism, and in this country, and Greed and Glory on Even when Auletta comes up short, he of incisiveness and shrewd probing. And all kinds of publications. Wall Street, which was a thrilling narrative comes up long: Many years ago, Ken pur- more achievements, more books, are to He wrote for the when of rivalry and deception in the financial sued a profile of Harvey Weinstein. And come, undoubtedly. The guy is tireless. But it was the Post of Dorothy Schiff, the pa- world before that theme became a staple while he produced a piece that was deep I think it’s even more important to point out trician distributor of a spirited afternoon of the bestseller lists. These are journalistic and in no manner soft––Weinstein came what everyone who knows him recognizes paper and roast beef sandwiches to her enterprises, I’ve always thought, that had off, at best, as a bully––he (and his editors, in Ken––a character of confiding, genuine reporter-guests. He later wrote for the a sterling pedigree, and Ken built on them to be sure) were not quite able to get to the warmth, decency, humor, integrity, a bound- more expansive and open-hearted Village with incredible industry and drive. The worst of Weinstein’s predilections. The less capacity for friendship and kindness. Voice, which is where I first started reading Underclass was a kind of successor to what sources at that time were just not prepared His wife, Binky, and their daughter, Kate, him. Ken might not have seemed a natural Jacob Riis was up to when he set about to go public. know all this better than the rest of us, but fit with the avant-gardist poets, left-lean- describing tenement New York; Greed and And yet last year Ken was his generous it’s not something hidden behind layers ing activists and punk-rock hellions of Glory was a successor to John Brooks’s self. He directed a much younger colleague, of the journo-reticence of an earlier age. the Voice of those days—he has always masterly business narratives for The New Ronan Farrow, to The New Yorker to do his It’s all right out there: Ken Auletta is just been the most groomed and gathered and Yorker at an earlier time. own work on Weinstein, which had bene- about the nicest guy on any island, Coney soft-spoken of gentlemen, at least by ink- At The New Yorker, and in the books fited from Farrow’s industry and a range of or otherwise. All hail Ken! stained wretch standards––yet he had a that have come out of his pieces for the sources who now seemed prepared to tell deep sense of right and wrong. magazine, Ken was an early arrival to the their stories. Farrow has said repeatedly, Remnick is editor-in-chief of The New A righteous man in the best sense, he Information Age, writing deeply, and with- and rightly, that the magazine would not Yorker. PAGE 8 SILURIAN NEWS NOVEMBER 2018 OBITUARY JARED LEBOW, whose journalism career took him from sportswrit- Silurian Scholarship Winner ing duties at the Fort Lauderdale News in 1962 to the sports copy desk The newest recipient of the Society at The New York Times, died of an apparent heart attack at his home in of the Silurians Fellowship, awarded New York on June 8. He was 76. A few years after joining the Lauderdale to an outstanding student from CUNY newspaper, Lebow moved to New York to edit Time Inc.’s FYI magazine. journalism school, is Chase Brush. That was followed by editing stints at Signature and Look magazines; at When he takes home his master’s de- the latter he was assistant sports editor. He eventually found his way to gree, Brush hopes to become a report- The Times, leaving in 1979 to pursue a career in public relations. er specializing in “political issues of national and international relevance,” according to Sarah Bartlett, dean of the school, which was recently re- named the Craig Newmark School

Society of the Silurians Officers 2018-2019 of Journalism at the City University President COMMITTEE of New York. DAVID A. ANDELMAN CHAIRPERSONS: Brush, class of 2019, is an Eagle Scout who hails from New Jersey, First Vice-President MICHAEL S. SERRILL Awards: where he earned his undergraduate JACK DEACY degree from Rutgers in 2014 in Second Vice-President philosophy and economics. As an JOSEPH BERGER Constitution and Bylaws: ALLAN DODDS FRANK undergraduate, he worked on the Secretary independent school newspaper and LINDA AMSTER Awards Dinner: Chase Brush AILEEN JACOBSON co-founded a hyperlocal news web- Treasurer site called Muckgers Media. After KAREN BEDROSIAN Futures: graduating from Rutgers, he worked among them: Bridgegate.” An avid RICHARDSON ALLAN DODDS FRANK as a statehouse reporter for the web- traveler, Brush embarked on a four- BOARD OF GOVERNORS: Membership: sites PolitickerNJ and NJ Spotlight. month trip to China before checking BETSY ASHTON MORT SHEINMAN Bartlett says Brush has “covered into graduate school to work on his JACK DEACY Nominating: the machinations of New Jersey pol- editing and writing and hone his focus BILL DIEHL BEN PATRUSKY itics at every level, from local, state on political reporting. ALLAN DODDS FRANK TONY GUIDA and federal elections to the occasional Brush’s award includes a $2,000 Silurian News CLYDE HABERMAN MICHAEL S. SERRILL, Editor government scandal – most notable scholarship. MYRON KANDEL BERNARD KIRSCH Website: VALERIE S. KOMOR BEN PATRUSKY, AILEEN JACOBSON MORT SHEINMAN, Co-editors CAROL LAWSON Congratulations, Fortuna Calvo-Roth DAVID MARGOLICK Webmaster: BEN PATRUSKY Long-time Silurian Calvo-Roth was a recipient of the Missouri Honor FRED HERZOG MYRON RUSHETZKY Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism, presented to her by the MORT SHEINMAN Social Media: University of Missouri School of Journalism at an Oct. 16 ceremony. Cal- BILL DIEHL GOVERNORS EMERITI: vo-Roth, a 1954 grad of the journalism school, was born in Paris and raised GARY PAUL GATES HERBERT HADAD in Lima, Peru. She worked for a series of publications emphasizing Latin LINDA GOETZ HOLMES SILURIAN CONTINGENCY FUND American and global affairs, taught political science at Hofstra and New ROBERT D. McFADDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES: LEO MEINDL STEVEN MARCUS, CHAIR York University, and was president of New York Women in Communications.

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Andrea Bucher-McAdams has been writing the Cutting Corners column for Town Eleanor Randolph was a member of the Editorial Board of The New York Times & Village since 2006. from 1998 to 2016. Before joining The Times, she covered national politics and the media for the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers. She s Dale Burg has been in the media business since the 1970s, when she started currently a fellow at CUNY s Leon Levy Biography Center. contributing pieces to the Village Voice and the Villager. From 1983 to 1997, she wrote for McCall’s, New Woman, Cosmopolitan and other publications. Between 2005 and Elliott Rebhun is senior vice president of the Classroom Magazine Group at 2012, she wrote for Bloom Magazine, a culture and lifestyle publication. She is also the Scholastic Inc., overseeing almost two dozen magazines, including The New York author or co-author of some 25 books, ranging from The Geek Squad Guide to Solving Times Upfront, a biweekly news magazine composed of Times articles edited for Any Computer Glitch to Sloth: Ode to Disarray and Delay. teenage students. Before joining Scholastic in 2003, Rebhun was with The Times for nine years. From 1984 to 1991, he was an editor at Newsweek. Bill Collins started his career at the Observer & Eccentric chain in suburban Detroit in the mid-1970s. He was then a sports and feature writer at the Detroit Free Press. He Jack Schwartz, a newspaperman for almost 50 years, worked for six metropolitan also had a broadcasting career before moving into PR and investor relations at Ford dailies: the Mirror, the News, the Post, Newsday, the Long Island Press and The Motor Co. He first joined the Overseas Press Club board in 2002 and is currently a Times, plus a short stint at The International Herald-Tribune in Paris. He was a member of the OPC Foundation board. reporter and columnist but primarily distinguished himself as an editor. When he retired in 2005, he was assistant editor of the Times Weekend section, in addition to Edward J. Forbes is a senior editor at New Jersey’s Record newspaper. Prior to that, working on the daily culture pages. he was a senior editor at the Journal News in Westchester County and an editor at the Adirondack Daily Enterprise. Lou Sepersky was a newsman from 1962 through 1975, reporting for the Staten Island Advance, the New York Post, the Herald News in Passaic, N.J., the Hudson Roberta Brandes Gratz was an award-winning reporter at the New York Post from Dispatch in Union City, N.J., UPI and McGraw Hill. 1963 to 1978 before becoming a full-time freelance writer, author and international lecturer with a focus on urban affairs. Suzanne Slesin was an editor and reporter for the Home section of The New York Times for 16 years and has been a major voice in the field of home design for more than Liz Johnson is the Senior Director of New Audience & Topics for the Record and 40 years. In addition to an extensive magazine background, she was the co-author of NorthJersey.com. She was formerly the content strategist for new audiences and for more than 20 books on design and home furnishings and is the founder and editorial many years was the food editor at Westchester’s Journal News and lohud.com. director of Pointed Leaf Press, which publishes high quality photography monographs on personalities from the design, architecture and fashion worlds. Don Kaplan covered business news at Fairchild Publications until 1998, when he joined the New York Post. There he reported on the television industry for 14 years. In logged more than half a century as a newsman. In 1962, he was a news 2012, he moved to the New York Daily News as TV editor, remaining until 2017, when Al Wasser he joined Governor Andrew Cuomo’s press office as deputy director of communications. editor at WINS Radio, then spent 14 years at WNEW Radio as an on-air analyst and reporter. He joined NBC News as news manager for its radio network, then moved to CBS William Lamb is deputy director of the Topics section of New Jersey’s Record. News as a news editor and writer in the late 1970s. Not wanting to neglect a network, Earlier, he was a senior editor at Dwell magazine, a publication specializing in modern he later became head writer at ABC-TV s Good Morning America before being named a architecture and design, and before that he was a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. news editor at ABC News. He is now retired.

Barry Newman was a reporter at The Wall Street Journal for 43 years. He wrote more than Jonathan Weil is currently a senior financial analyst at Kynikos Associates, but his 400 front-page feature stories and became known among his peers as King of the A-Heds. heart still belongs to journalism, a profession he practiced for some 20 years as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal and as a columnist at Bloomberg News. Maria Newman was a reporter and editor at The New York Times for 23 years. Since 2015 she has been alumni director of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. Thomas Zambito is an investigative reporter for the Journal News with a focus on transportation and energy. Before joining the Journal News in 2015 he was a reporter at Carolyn Purcell is director of programming and operations for FiOS1 News Networks. the Star Ledger in Newark. He s also worked at Newsday, the New York Daily News and She s been with the company since 2011. She launched Money & Main$treet, a daily business the Record. In our most recent Excellence in Journalism competition, he won a Medallion show, and consults on specials, the web, lifestyle and news content. and a Merit Award for the Journal News.