Video of Our Speakers
We’ve had a great run of speakers at recent events. If you were unable to attend, you can now see what you missed. If you did attend, here are encore presentations for you to enjoy. Please SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel.
Click here to view the videos.
Our New Address
Please be aware that as of May 25, 2022, the Silurians Press Club has a new address:
Silurians Press Club
P.O. Box 2045
Grand Central Station
New York, NY 10163
Silurian Calendar
Dates for the 2022 season. All events, except those noted to be otherwise, fall on the third Wednesday of the month at the National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South. Further details will be announced as they become known.
Luncheon:
Dinner at the National Arts Club:
In Person – Excellence in Journalism Awards Dinner on June 15
Join The Silurians Press Club! Veteran journalists. Attend luncheons talks with great speakers. Download an application by clicking on Join Now
Click to view the January 2022 issue of Silurian News
Click here to view previous issues.New Members
Michael Amon
Russ Baker
Mark Bittman
Michael Clancy
Bob Essman
Lisa Fleisher
Kenneth Jones
Susan Lapinski
Mel Laytner
Bonnie Tandy Leblang
Peter Lewine
Monica Malpass
John Mariani
Robert Nickelsberg
Dennis Redmont
Jonathan Richards
Robert B. Semple, Jr.
Marlow Stern
Ann Warwick
Carole Agus Woodier
Member News
David Andelman has started a (free) Substack column Andelman Unleashed, so just click to subscribe. Also… On Dec 1 David was awarded France’s highest honor – the rank of chevalier (knight) of the Legion d’Honneur, for “a lifelong commitment to promoting better understanding between the people of France and the US”. (Learn more on page 8 of the Jan 2020 Silurian News.)
More news about Bill Diehl: Bill has a new book out, titled “50 Years of Celebrity Chatter: (Or The Time I Interviewed a Porn Star Naked,” in which he recounts his experiences interviewing various show-biz types during his years at ABC Radio Network and before that at WNEW. Besides the porn star Marilyn Chambers, of “Behind the Green Door” fame (she was naked, he wasn’t), he provides insights and anecdotes about a wide range of actors, including Tom Hanks, Bernadette Peters, Robin Williams, Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Tony Curtiss and Mel Brooks. And there are photographs, in both the paperback and Kindle versions of the book, available on Amazon. David Andelman calls it “truly a great, fun ‘read.’ I commend it to all.”
Bill Diehl, a veteran radio broadcaster who spent much of his career with ABC covering entertainment industry personalities, is himself the subject of a new podcast about his career of almost five decades. He was interviewed by Jordan Rich, a popular Boston podcaster. Here is the link to the podcast: https://player.blubrry.com/id/76975387/.
Diehl, a long-time member of the Silurians’ Board of Governors, is the author of the 2017 memoir “Stay Tuned: My Life Behind the Mic.” It is available on Amazon. He is currently working on his second book, “Who Said That?” A follow-up to “Stay Tuned,” it is expected to be ready for publication in the fall.
Like many of us, Stephen B. Shepard has had some second thoughts. Unlike many of us, he’s written them down and put them in a new book, a memoir called — aptly — “Second Thoughts.” It’s available on Amazon either as a paperback or a Kindle version. Shepard started rethinking his life when he turned 80 a couple of years ago, and felt that “retrospection” might yield new understanding about such subjects as the family of his boyhood; the profound changes in journalism since he was a youngster; the Jewishness he once rejected; a greater appreciation that can come with re-reading “fiction that matters”; and a closer look at the meaning of male friendship. Shepard, former editor of BusinessWeek magazine, is the founding dean of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, now known as the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. Small parts of “Second Thoughts” have appeared in his two earlier books, “Deadlines and Disruptions” and “A Literary Journey to Jewish Identity.”
Just in time for the start of a new year, former Silurians president David A. Andelman has published his latest book, “A Red Line in the Sand,” now available on Amazon. A seasoned commentator who contributes frequently to CNN Opinion on global affairs and a former foreign correspondent for The New York Times and CBS News, Andelman combines history and global politics to help his readers better understand the exploding number of military, political, and diplomatic crises around the globe. Using original documentary research, previously classified material, interviews with key players, and reportage from more than 80 countries across five decades to help understand the growth, the successes and frequent failures that have shaped our world today. A former president of the Overseas Press Club and, most recently, the Silurians Press Club, Andelman has a long and renowned record that spans print and broadcast media as fluidly as it does national borders. Over the course of his career, he has traveled through and reported from more than 85 countries. A graduate of Harvard University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, he is a Visiting Scholar at the Center on National Security at Fordham Law School and director of The Red Lines Project, a member of the Board of Contributors of USA Today, and a “Voices” columnist for CNN Opinion.
He is also the author of “The Peacemakers” and “A Shattered Peace: Versailles 1919 and the Price We Pay Today” and the co-author of “The Fourth World War.”
Around the Web
For a list of websites and blogs of special interests to journalists
click here.
Silurians Member Blogs
Category Archives: Uncategorized
SILURIANS OFFICER AND BOARD ELECTIONS, 2022 – 2023
JOSEPH BERGER ELECTED PRESIDENT; AILEEN JACOBSON NAMED EDITOR OF SILURIAN NEWS; CHESTER HIGGINS JR. JOINS BOARD OF GOVERNORS By Ben Patrusky Joseph Berger, a consummate New York Times reporter, columnist and editor for more than three decades and the prolific … Continue reading
SILURIANS TO HONOR LOCAL JOURNALISM’S “BEST AND BRIGHTEST” AT THE JUNE 15 AWARDS DINNER
By Jack Deacy Silurian members are invited to join us at the National Arts Club in Manhattan on the evening of June 15 to honor the best and brightest of local journalism, the winners of our 2022 Excellence In Journalism … Continue reading
Tim Weiner, Intelligence and National Security Expert, Discussed the War in Ukraine and Explained Political Warfare at Our April 20 Meeting
By Aileen Jacobson The war in Ukraine represents “the resurrection of political warfare by the United States,” said Tim Weiner, our speaker at the April 20 Zoom meeting, our second program on that ongoing war instigated by Russia. Weiner, a … Continue reading
An In-Person Reunion After Two Years of Zoom and a Glorious Tribute to Photojournalist Chester Higgins Jr., Winner of the Silurians Lifetime Achievement Award
By Aileen Jacobson For the first time in two years Silurians got to see each other in person, and for the first time ever we honored a photojournalist with our Lifetime Achievement Award during the gala on March 24 at … Continue reading
Extra! Extra! Special March 30 Zoom Program on Ukraine Featuring Mikhail Zygar, Russian Writer and James Brooke, American Ukraine Expert
By Michael Serrill I am pleased to announce that the Silurians Press Club has scheduled a special Zoom program on Wednesday, March 30 to discuss the most important global event in decades—the war between Russia and Ukraine. To lead the discussion, we have … Continue reading
Artist, Caricaturist and Author Edward Sorel Spoke at the February 16 Zoom meeting: A Report and an Appreciation
By David Margolick Early on in his profusely illustrious career, Edward Sorel neatly captured in a semi-autobiographical cartoon — it contains nine separate self-portraits — a brilliant artist’s eternal dilemma. In the drawing, which ran in the Nation, he ponders … Continue reading
A Life Well and Truly Lived: With Anecdotes and Loving Words, Steven V. Roberts Paid Tribute to His Wife and Distinguished Fellow Journalist Cokie Roberts at the January Meeting
By David A. Andelman For 53 years, Steve Roberts was Cokie’s biggest fan. He was also her husband and, at times, writing partner and traveling companion. They also became, for each of them, mutual sources of ineffable inspiration. That’s the … Continue reading
Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst and Author of The Rise and Fall of Osama Bin Laden, Delivered the Low-Down on Afghanistan at the December Meeting
By David A. Andelman Peter Bergen is unequivocal about many issues surrounding the world and especially America’s place in it. Above all, he’s pretty clear about what he thinks of Joe Biden’s Afghanistan policy. He minced no words when he … Continue reading
Will Trump Run Again? Michael Wolff Gave Silurians His Take—After Explaining in Detail How Insane the Ex-Prez Is.
by David Margolick It sounds more like an ad for a legendary electronics store than an appraisal of a former President of the United States. But according to Michael Wolff, Donald Trump is… insane! And “crazy.” And “off his rocker.” … Continue reading
The Tale of Merriman “Smitty” Smith, Known as “the Greatest Wire Reporter Ever,” as Told by Bill Sanderson at the October 20 Meeting
by Aileen Jacobson At an urgent pace, Bill Sanderson recounted the tale of how reporter Merriman “Smitty” Smith got the news that President John F. Kennedy had been shot onto the UPI wire in only 4 minutes, much faster than … Continue reading