50 Years. 36 Emmys. One Lifetime of Achievement.
The Silurians Press Club celebrates Chuck Scarborough — and he celebrates the story
By Mel Laytner
Before stepping up to accept the Silurians Press Club’s Lifetime Achievement Award, Chuck Scarborough had done a quick investigative search on his hosts.
He learned (from Google) that Silurians are “an intelligent reptilian species” that “often have three eyes” and that they “frequently clash with humanity over the ownership of the planet.” Turning to his interlocutor, legendary radio reporter Rich Lamb, Scarborough said a “Rich Lamb” was “a bold, deeply flavorful ragu perfect for serving over pasta.”
“So, you can imagine my disappointment,” Scarborough deadpanned, setting a breezy, self-deprecating tone for the Silurians’ May 20 luncheon at the National Arts Club.
In 1973, Scarborough covered the crash of Delta Air Lines Flight 723 at Boston's Logan Airport. Holder of a commercial pilot's license, Scarborough kept digging for details. Realizing he had too much material for TV, he wrote this article for Boston Magazine.
James T. Madore, Silurians' 2026 Peter Kihss Award Winner
For nearly three decades at Newsday,
James T. Madore has built a reputation not just as a thorough, old-school reporter, but as the guy younger journalists can turn to for advice, encouragement and the occasional push out the door to chase a story.
That spirit of mentorship helped earn him the Silurians Press Club’s 2026 Peter Kihss Award, which recognizes journalists known for helping younger colleagues and strengthening the profession.
At the awards luncheon, colleagues praised Madore’s generosity, empathy and commitment to “shoe-leather” reporting. They described him as both teacher and role model — someone who has guided generations of reporters through his newsroom leadership, speaking engagements and work with the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing.
Join us—Wednesday, June 17
The Silurians 2026 Excellence in Journalism Awards Dinner
Join us in honoring fellow members of our journalism community as we recognize the finest reporting of 2025 in the tri-state area across print, broadcast, online, and digital video.
The festive evening at the National Arts Club will commence at 6 pm with a reception that includes a premium open bar and an array of passed hors d'oeuvres, followed by a three-course dinner at 7 pm, culminating in the award presentations.
Tickets for Silurian members are $200. Members also may invite one guest at the member rate of $200. Tickets are $250 for non-Silurians.
The deadline for reservations is noon Tuesday, June 9th. No payments will be accepted at the door.
Silurians Scholarship 2026 Winners
News Media News
Journalism and AI
Love it or fear it, Artificial Intelligence is rapidly being integrated in newsrooms around the world. Here you will find links to articles, clips and videos that will be updated from time to time to help better understand this accelerating trend.
EXTRA! EXTRA! AI Just Wrote This Headline.
Read Oxford Free Press Story
Fighting the Machine
Read Columbia Journalism Review
Where Does Publishing’s A.I. Problem Leave Authors and Readers?
Read NY Times Story [paywall]
"Tested ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude on the Iran war — and one AI fed fake news."
Read Tom's Guide Review
AI company set out to fix news deserts. Instead, it copied local journalists’ work
Read Poynter Story
An AI Upheaval Is Coming for Media. This Journalist Is Already All In.
Read WSJ Story [paywall]
Can AI Save Local News?
Read WSJ Stroy [paywall]
News Corp, Meta in AI Content Licensing Deal Worth Up to $50 Million a Year
Read WSJ story [paywall]
Growing more complex by the day: How should journalists govern use of AI in their products?
Read AP Analysis
A.I. Is Giving You a Personalized Internet, but You Have No Say in It
Read NY Times Story [paywall]
Opinon: As the AI arms race ramps up, we can’t let big tech control access to information
Read Opion in SF Chronicle
Inside an AI start-up’s plan to scan and dispose of millions of books
Read WashiPost Story [paywall]
Publishers prepare to be “squeezed” by AI and creators in 2026
Read Neiman Labs Article
Hearst’s Tim O’Rourke on the future of AI in journalism
Read interview on Storybench
How will AI reshape the news in 2026? Forecasts by 17 experts from around the world
Read Reuters Institute Story
Opinion: news outlets that got AI right in 2025 — and the ones that got it very, very wrong
Read Poynter Institute Opinion
The Architects of AI Are TIME’s 2025 Person of the Year
Read Story in Time
Report: Washington Post’s AI-generated podcasts rife with errors, fictional quotes
Read Semafor Story
New York Times sues Perplexity AI for 'illegal' copying of content
Read Reuters Story
Meta strikes multiple AI deals with news publishers
Read CNBC Story
The deepfake dilemma: When you can’t trust your eyes
Read Story in E&P
The Company Quietly Funneling Paywalled Articles to AI Developers
Read story in The Atlantic [paywall]
A.I. Sweeps Through Newsrooms, but Is It a Journalist or a Tool?
Read NY Times Story [paywall]
NAB Survey:Americans Want AI Guardrails to Protect Local Journalism
Read National Assoc. of Broadcasters Survey
Can AI marketplaces save publishing’s future?
Read Editor & Publisher Article
BBC study shows AI misrepresent news content 45% of the time
Read BBC story
Most journalists use AI; few newsrooms have policies
Read E&P Article
Start spreading the news: AI has a place in media
Read E&P Article
Opinion: AI’s Copyright War Could Be Its Undoing. Only the US Can End It.
Read Bloomgberg Opinion [paywall]
Reddit Is Winning the AI Game
Read Article in CJR
News publishers split on AI: E&P survey reveals both promise and peril
Read Editor & Publisher Article
Publishers with AI licensing deals have seven times the clickthrough rate. But deals leave small outlets out in the cold.
Read Story in Press Gazette
Relatively few Americans are getting news from AI chatbots like ChatGPT
Read Pew Research Study
AI -killing-the-Web: The-Economist
Read Story in The Economist [paywall]
Judge approves $1.5 billion settlement over Anthropic's alleged use of pirated books
Read Story on CBS
The Economist's AI Game Plan
Podcast on Newsroom Robots (subscription optional)
OpenAI admits AI hallucinations are mathematically inevitable, not just engineering flaws
Read Report in Computerworld
Rolling Stone Publisher Sues Google Over AI Summaries
Read WSJ article [paywall]
The AI Doomers Are Losing the Argument
"Weekend Essay on Bloomberg [paywall]
A Complete List of Publishers and Their AI Licensing Deals (as of Sept. 1, 2025)
Read FutureWeek Story
Existential crisis: how Google's shift to AI has upended the online news model
Read The Guardian Story
Why The Baltimore Times sees AI as a friend, not a threat
Listen to Keep It Local podcast
Gender gap in who uses AI. Recent study finds usage tilts heavily toward men.
Read story in WS Journal [paywall]
I Wanted a Team of Rivals to Give Me Advice. So I Turned to AI.
Read story in WS Journal [paywall]
Can AI help local journalists cover 169 towns? A Connecticut out is working to find out
Read Poynter Report
SHORT VIDEO: AI news videos blur line between real and fake reports
CLICK to view video
AI startup Perplexity Is Launching a New Revenue-Share Model for news articles used in its search results.
Read story in WS Journal paywall
SHORT VIDEO: How the New York Times uses AI in its investigations | AI and the Future of News 2025
CLICK to view video
AI-powered search tools threaten the survival of the online news industry
Read story on TechEDT
The good, the bad, and the completely made-up: Newsrooms on wrestling accurate answers out of AI
Read Nieman Lab Study
Amazon to Pay New York Times at Least $20 Million a Year in AI Deal
Read WSJ Story paywallAbout Silurians, by Silurians
The Irrefutable power of Community Reporting
By Adam Stone
On July 12, 2025, The New York Times published a front-page story “UnitedHealth’s Campaign to Quiet Critics,” which included an account of the insurer’s apparent attempt to chill my Westchester County-based investigative reporting....This mega-corporation wanted to silence my local watchdog news outlet—emphasis on local.
Reporter’s Tenacity Unravels – and Helps Chronicle – Her Family’s Wartime Secrets
By Karen A. Frenkel
My training is as a science writer and technology journalist and producer.... I transitioned to narrative nonfiction with the Family Treasures Lost and Found project, which includes my recently published memoir and tie-in documentary. .Both chronicle my investigative quest to fill gaps in the survival stories of my Polish Jewish parents and sole surviving grandfather.
This Optimistic ʻSilurian Newbieʼ Is Grooming The Next Generation of Journalists
By Cathi Steele
I’m a Silurian newcomer, relatively speaking, as I was accepted into this esteemed press club in July 2025. Like you, I’m concerned about—and sometimes downright distraught over—the perilous climate in which journalists and media find themselves.
And yet, I see a future of possibilities.
The Silurian Archives
Silurians YouTube channel — 120+ videos of speakers and events.
