A writer, actress, cultural observer, commentator and critic, New York Press Club member Beatrice Williams-Rude is a prolific contributor to this Web site's "Constant Columnist" page. The story of how her stories came to be published in book form is almost as riveting as the tales themselves.

"A series of accidents," says Beatice, kicked-off by an urge to document and culminated by serendipity - an unexpected, posthumous boon from Don Taft, who for a time was Beatrice's agent but whom she hadn't seen for years, cleared the way for publication.

"It started out as an account of my longtime relationship with Dale Wasserman (Man of La Mancha; the stage version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and nine boxes of scripts, mostly TV, in the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts), but Lizzie Simon, the author who taught a memoir class I attended and those in the “writers group” that constituted the class, led me to change the focus and direction.

"The book is really a collection of vignettes," says Beatrice, "grouped by subject matter: The Theater and I (all the anecdotes have a punch line, all are funny one way or another); Crime Time (including the tale of Ken Later, briefly my agent who wound up in a block of cement in a Mafia cemetery); and tales of my father’s fractious family and their roles in Philadelphia’s “bloody Fifth Ward” (see The New York Times, Sept. 23 and 30, 1917).

"I finished it, or rather, finished with it two years ago and hadn’t looked at it until I received news of Don Taft’s death. I’d discussed it with him at length. He’d been my agent and got me the role of Ruth in the Levin version of Compulsion. He’d also been my regular Tuesday night dinner guest for several years – up until he put down roots in Florida.

"We’d never lost touch communicating by phone and snail mail. We’d discussed the book as I was writing it. Because Don didn’t have email (it never occurred to me to Google him) I assumed he was living marginally. I’d no idea that since moving to Florida he’d become a multimillionaire. And fittingly, from food!

"The trajectory: the journey from being “the droop of the third grade” (and also the fourth and fifth) to self acceptance.

"Publication thanks to Don Taft! His lawyer, or rather the lawyer for his estate, was happy with the sections on Don and so..."

Philadelphia born and bred, Beatrice was a contest-winning child pianist, chorus kid, actress, singer and model. She has appeared on Broadway,
off-Broadway, in light opera, summer stock - both "in the round" and proscenium - performing in plays and musicals.

After receiving three unpalatable job offers ("obscene hardly describes them") she returned to school and changed the direction of her life, becoming a copy editor.

As Beatrice became ever more involved in the world of publishing she added new roles: researcher and reviewer. Her essays on theater and opera appeared on "Broadway After Dark" and in her "think pieces" on this Web site's page, "The Constant Columnist."

In the winding course of her career she has had "more names than a con man": Beatrice Ruth (the most theater credits), Beatrice Ruth Williams, Beatrice R. W. Williams, and Beatrice Williams-Rude. Starting in Philadelphia she was Beats Walsh.

Beatrice is an active campaigner for humane treatment of animals, the abolition of torture of man and beast, and for world peace. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, Alan Rude.

Misadventures of a Would-Be Muse is available at booksellers, including Amazon.com.

The blog is called tvtakesall.com and features news, reviews and commentary about television news and TV programming in general.

Caruso is owner of DJC Communications and for the past 20 years has specialized in media relations. She is regularly called upon to comment on issues in the news involving the media, particularly television. The blog is an offshoot of that.

Deb has been quoted in The New York Times, ABC News Radio, E-Commerce Times, Portfolio.com, MacNewsWorld, The Arizona Republic, Forbes.com, AOL WalletPop, The Christian Science Monitor and the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel among others. She has also contributed to such publications as O’Dwyer’s PR Magazine and CommPro.biz.

Find out more about DJC COmmunications.

A sampler of Arty's book can be downloaded here (PDF).

No one works for 40 years in the tabloids without meeting a lot of people along the way. Arty is no exception. The photo gallery at his home contains shots he has taken of nearly every notable local, state, national and international public figure of the last half of the 20th century. Celebrities like the Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Sophia Loren, Gregory Peck and Helen Hayes; heads of state like Fidel Castro and Nikita Krushchev; and political figures like the Kennedys and virtually every American president since the late 1950s -- you name them, they have all come under the gaze of Arty Pomerantz.

A New York Press Club member for decades, Arty has published a book of his photo journalism with help from writer, Steven P. Unger, called "Before the Paparazzi." It is a spectacular collection of iconic photos taken by Arty and annotated by Unger to include the story behind each photo. (A sampler of the book is available here. Copies of the full work can be obtained from your favorite bookseller.)

With a talent for using his viewfinder to show more than we can see, it's no surprise that Arty was nominated for the Pulitzer. He has also won more photography awards than he's bothered to count. To list a few, they come from the Associated Press, the National Press Photographers, New York Press Photographers Association, the New York Press Club, Japan Camera Association, NYPD Police Benevolent Association - Arty's long list of awards makes it abundantly clear that he is a real "shooter." His photos have been syndicated in virtually every major publication in the country. In fact, during the 40 years he was with the tabloids, at least 20 front-page pictures in any 30-day period were Arty's handiwork.

Arty began his career as a hobby while still in his teens. He found photojournalism so entrancing a form of artistic expression that he pursued it through studies in high school, professional school, and at the college level. While still a student, he became an assignment photographer for the New York Journal-American. He later spent more than 30 years as staff photographer and assignment editor at the New York Post.

Before Harry met Sally, Nora met Arty. Pomerantz showed the cub reporter and later screenwriter of the Rob Reiner film, Nora Ephron, the ropes at the nightside of the New York tabloids. When Pete Hamill came out of Brooklyn to the tabloids - long before he became a columnist, editor and nearly rock-star famous - Arty Pomerantz showed the rookie writer Manhattan and Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island, too.

Although no longer working for the tabloids, Arty is now fulfilling assignments and doing digital photography projects. Visit his Website, here.

Phil O'Brien is a former president and current Governor of the New York Press Club. The Press Club has no connection to or interests in Buzz60.com. What follows is a press release about Buzz60.com from Zazoom, LLC, the company that controls Buzz60.com and of which Phil is president.

The next wave of video media innovation starts with the launch of Buzz60.com, an all-video information site created by a group of prominent television journalists.

The Buzz60.com experience delivers trendy stories from world events to Hollywood, from hilarious cable news moments to quirky sports situations—all in a sassy, entertaining 60-seconds.

Buzz60.com's all on-demand videos are reported by hosts including former NBC-NY news correspondents Jay DeDapper and Tim Minton, legendary sports broadcaster Len Berman, and film critic Alison Bailes. Buzz60 is a brand of Zazoom LLC, a company co-founded by Philip O'Brien, who helped start New York 1 News as a senior executive at Time Warner Cable.

"We're part of a wholesale change in the way we all consume video media," said Jay DeDapper. "We're going where the viewers are: online and on mobile devices."

Buzz60.com will produce video "snacks" as events happen all day for its innovative website and for distribution partners, including Dailymotion.

"We're creating a sensational user experience," said Tim Minton. "Buzz60 saves time. It allows people to move right to the prime cut to find out what's going on and have fun wherever they are with a single click, tap or touch of a button."

Curated categories include DeDapper's "Cable Kooks" segments that highlight bizarre goings on—intended and otherwise—from 24-hour news channels. Segments on other topics will be hosted by fantasy sports guru Mike Avila, exciting online talent Maureen Aladin, and others.

"Whatever people are talking about, they will find fresh material at Buzz60.com," said O'Brien. "More than just what's happening, we provide a spin on events that they can use when discussing them at work or with friends."

Visit Buzz60.com

Dear Friend and Colleague:

I'm writing to tell you about Journalists in Schools (JIS). The goal of this new project is to engage New York City high school students in learning and in their communities by teaching them the basics of reporting, while establishing a network of independent journalism inside schools that will benefit the entire student community.

Students would produce a school newspaper and a website about news in their school and neighborhood. A citywide website with news for teens across the school system will let students from different schools see each others' coverage and communicate about it. Journalism tutors (recent J. school grads who would get year-long fellowship stipends) would teach the students, in collaboration with practicing journalists who will volunteer to mentor the post-grad fellows, as well as some of the high school students. So I would run the Science Unit, for e.g., guiding the tutors about sci/tech/health stories, and work with some of the high school students as well.

We are especially targeting at-risk students to participate, because we believe the project can help lower the dropout rate. A very successful pilot has already been implemented in a school in Queens. CNN and WNYC radio covered the pilot. We are now working in two high schools in Manhattan to get news media started in those places.

We think this project is critical not only to education, but to the future of a free press, engaging and cultivating the next generation of journalists – and journalism consumers. At the same time, we are bolstering at-risk teens' social and emotional development so that they succeed in any field they choose.

It is also a unique opportunity for recent journalism graduates to connect with professional journalists and beat reporters through a kind of post-graduate fellowship.

We are looking for journalists and other leaders in media and business who would like to contribute financially and/or donate their time and wisdom as mentors.

Journalists in Schools is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Journalists in Schools may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. Details about donating online or by check are on our website. An Executive Summary of the proposal is also on the site, in the Why Now? section.

The Executive Director and founder of JIS is Leslie Seifert, former Newsday Op Ed editor and who has taught as an adjunct at Columbia University's School of Journalism.

Please feel free to pass this along to your colleagues and anyone else you think might be interested.

Now comes word that Robbins has joined the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism as its first Investigative Journalist in Residence.

"Tom Robbins is known for breaking news, holding public officials accountable, and maintaining the highest standards of integrity and ethics in his reporting. Our students and faculty will benefit tremendously from having him in our midst," said Stephen B. Shepard, the Journalism School's founding dean.

Robbins will serve as a general resource to the students and faculty and teach an investigative reporting course in the Urban Reporting concentration, which is overseen by Professor Sarah Bartlett. The new course will focus on generating investigative stories for the city's community and ethnic press, as part of the School's ongoing commitment to bolstering that segment of the city's media industry. Thanks to a recent Ford Foundation grant, the Journalism School has embarked on a major fund-raising effort to establish a permanent Center for Community and Ethnic Media.

"Good investigative reporting is critical medicine for a great metropolis, and I look forward to working with the terrific team Steve Shepard has assembled at CUNY's Journalism School to help develop a new corps of diggers for the truth," said Robbins. His role at the School is made possible by a grant from the Kohlberg Foundation.

Marvin Scott has been on the frontline of history for half a century. In a profession that is constantly changing, few television reporters experience three uninterrupted decades of airtime at one station. To commemorate this remarkable achievement, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer presented Marvin Scott with a proclamation that declared Monday, November 29th, 2010 "Marvin Scott Day" in Manhattan. In addition, Congressman Peter King, Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Committee, will issue a Congressional Proclamation "honoring Marvin Scott for his 50 years of outstanding service as a New York broadcast legend who personifies New York's style, class and grit."

"It is a pleasure and a great personal honor for me to salute Marvin Scott, on the occasions of his 50th year as a broadcast reporter and his 30 years at WPIX-TV," said Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer. "Marvin's longevity is truly remarkable, in a fast-paced business where turnover is so frequent. But his success goes beyond his years. He has covered the news with flair and integrity for half a century, and the stories he has brought to the TV screen are a roadmap to our times: The end of the Cold War; the Kennedy assassination; the Iranian hostage crisis; the Challenger disaster; the 9-11 terror attacks; the crash of TWA flight 800 and so many more. He has been honored for his work with six Emmy awards for outstanding journalistic achievement, but even more important is the fact that Marvin Scott is a decent, principled man who exemplifies the highest standards of broadcast journalism. I am proud to declare Monday, Nov. 29th as "Marvin Scott Day" in Manhattan," Stringer concluded.

Quite an honor for a kid from the Bronx who, at the age of 14, chased fire engines and celebrities with a camera and sold his pictures to local newspapers and magazines. Since joining WPIX in 1980, Scott has won six Emmy awards for outstanding journalistic achievement. He has worn many hats as anchor, reporter, writer, host and producer. He is currently the station's Senior Correspondent and host of the weekly issues-oriented "PIX News Closeup" program, now in its 18th year.

Over the course of his career, Scott has made history as well as covering it. He was the first American reporter since the demise of the Soviet Union to go to sea aboard a Russian warship, as it sailed out of New York following Fleet Week. His investigation of cheating on citywide tests led to legislation making it a criminal act. It was Scott's idea and initiative that led to the supersonic Concorde being awarded to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. On the 40th anniversary of the JFK assassination, Scott added a voice to history by obtaining Abraham Zapruder's film of the shooting and using a portion of a 1965 interview he did with the Dallas dress manufacturer to synchronize with the 26 second film clip. Scott's raw interview with Zapruder is now part of the permanent archives of the assassination at the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.

Among his assignments, Scott was in Wiesbaden, Germany after hostages were released from a hijacked TWA jet. He was at the White House during the tense moments before the release of American hostages from Iran; and at West Point for their homecoming. In 1984 he received a national Emmy nomination for his coverage of the McDonald's massacre in which a gunman killed 21 people in San Jsidro, California. He was at the Kennedy Space center for the maiden launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia, and back a few years later to cover the Challenger disaster. On the first anniversary of 9/11 he gained an exclusive by flying over Ground Zero in the back seat of an F15 with one of the first two pilots to scramble after the terrorists attacks. With the Air Force Thunderbirds he pulled 9 Gs during a flight aboard an F-16, and with the Navy he's dived beneath Long Island Sound in two nuclear attack submarines. Scott was honored for his coverage of the TWA 800 crash and won two Emmys for his coverage of the Congressional Whitewater hearings.

After graduating from New York University, Scott got what he calls his "basic training" at radio and television stations in the Midwest. After stints at the Mutual Broadcasting System, Channel 5 (then WNEW-TV) and CNN, Scott joined the PIX news team in November of 1980 as a general assignment reporter. One of his first assignments was coverage of the murder of John Lennon. One year later he was named co-anchor of "Midday Edition" on WPIX's fledgling Independent Network News. For a period of time he shared the anchor desk with New York's former first lady, Donna Hanover. In subsequent assignments Scott anchored weekend and weeknight broadcasts, and began hosting "PIX News Closeup" in 1992.

Much of Scott's reporting has focused on politics. He has covered 16 presidential nominating conventions, 8 mayoral and gubernatorial elections. He's interviewed every mayor since John Lindsay, and every governor since Nelson Rockefeller. Six U.S. Presidents have been on the other side of his microphone, among them Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford and George Bush Sr. Other notable interviews have been with Israeli President Shimon Peres, then Foreign Minister, Watergate burglar G. Gordon Liddy and Watergate whistleblower John Dean. Henry Kissinger, Rev. Billy Graham, Theodore Sorenson, Eliot Spitzer, Astronaut Gordon Cooper, Larry King, Sophia Loren, Tony Bennett, Charlton Heston, and Jerry Lewis are among the others Scott has interviewed. Scott received an Emmy for the Lewis interview.

Despite a hectic schedule, Scott has always found time to give back to the community he loves. He is former president of the Television-Radio Working Press Association. He has hosted telethons and served on boards of charitable organizations and as master of ceremonies of such functions as the Ellis Island Medals of Honor, The Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Coast Guard and Airmen's annual gala. When not in Iraq, he dons a red suit and serves at Santa Claus at the Friars Club annual Christmas party for needy children. He is a recipient of the Ellis Island Medal, and has been installed in the Bronx Walk of Fame. In 2001 he was inducted into the coveted Silver Circle of the NY chapter of the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences. In addition to his seven Emmy Awards, Scott has received more than 30 Emmy nominations, a national Headliners Award, honors from Associated Press Broadcasters, and the Terry Anderson Award for "Professionalism in Journalism."

Scott has never forgotten that it all started with his camera, chasing the fire engines in the old neighborhood and getting his first picture of a raging fire published in the Daily News. Photography remains one of Scott's passions. His work has been exhibited at a number of New York galleries and he is planning to have another exhibition next year.

Looking further ahead, Scott says he has no intentions of retiring. He'd like to write a book, and continue to tell stories. He maintains, "Each day is an education, a new challenge. I'm still energized to do pushups with our troops in Iraq, and ask the tough questions in New York. I still love what I do and feel blessed. I'm a kid from the Bronx who each day continues to fulfill my dream."

Weiner has been a contributing columnist for Newsday, the New York Sun, the Orlando Sentinel, Metro Philadelphia, Metro New York and the Washington Examiner. He is a re-occurring guest on "Politics Live" with Sam Donaldson.

Weiner also lectures at colleges and universities about the business and politics of sports, including the globalization of North American sports and how technology is changing sports. His book, The Business and Politics of Sports, has been critically acclaimed by academic journals and is used as part of a number of sports business management courses at schools throughout the United States.

He started his journalism career at the age of 15 by hosting a Spring Valley High School talk show on WRKL Radio, Mount Ivy, N.Y. in 1971, while also covering high school sports for the Rockland Journal News in Nyack, N.Y. By 1978, he was covering news for WGRC Radio, where he won two Associated Press Awards. In the 1980s, he started his long association with Westwood One Radio, where he had a daily radio commentary, "The Business of Sports," that ran for eight years. Weiner has also appeared on programs on the History Channel with Al Michaels and Frank Deford, as well as the BBC Radio Documentary Sports and Sponsorship.

The Ronald Reagan Media Award, named in honor of the 40th President of the United States, is presented to an individual for outstanding contributions to sport through broadcasting, print, photography or acting. The individual should exhibit imagination, excitement and genius in kindling a keen public interest and appreciation for the role of sport in modern society.