Monday, June 16, 2003 4:20 PM BY ALEX BEN BLOCK There is still time to book seats at a very special 45th Annual Southern California Journalism Awards on Saturday evening, June 21, in the Grand Ballroom of the Sheraton Universal Hotel in Universal City, where the club honored Dan Rather and CBS News two years ago. It promises to be an evening of fun, entertainment and great emotion. Among this year’s award presenters is Larry McCormick of KTLA, former football- turned-TV star Fred Dryer, Los Angeles Times Managing Editor Dean…
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Marnye Oppenheim
Monday, June 16, 2003 4:16 PM New Times “Bite Me” Columnist, former Press Club Asst. Director [In Memoriam] Marnye Oppenheim was hired as the newsroom assistant at New Times Los Angeles on May 14, 1997, a classically insecure writer from a small town con- vinced that the only way she could break into journalism in L.A. was by starting as a secretary. She died five years later, to the day, on May 14, 2003, as the hottest new writer in Phoenix, mourned by thousands of readers and friends in both…
Read MoreThe Press and the Patriot Act
Friday, May 16, 2003 4:13 PM Nearly 75 journalists, legal experts, law enforcement officials and civic activists traded stories of civil liberties in a May 1 forum called “Covering Civil Liberties in Times of Crisis: Have the Rules Changed?” The event, co-spon- sored by USC’s Institute for Justice and Journalism, New California Media and the Los Angeles Press Club, featured a half-day of panels and workshops on how the media has cov- ered issues such as gov- ernment immigration sweeps and terrorism inter- rogations following Sept. 11, 2001 and the…
Read MoreSunshine “Report Card” Makes News; Effects Change
Friday, May 16, 2003 4:12 PM BY KAREN OCAMB (KAREN@LAPRESSCLUB.ORG) The Los Angeles Sunshine Coalition, which is pressing local governments to increase accessibility to government deci- sion-making and public records, earned widespread news coverage in April when the Coalition released a report card on Los Angeles County’s compliance with its own policies that slammed the County’s top lawyer for his persistent refusal to release requested public records. The report card and analysis were released April 8, a year after the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors ordered numer- ous changes…
Read MoreBufka’s “Celebrity” Photography on View
Friday, May 16, 2003 4:10 PM Aja Bufka, one of the Press Club’s many foreign correspon- dents, has opened a one-man show of his celebrity photography at the Czech Republic Consulate’s gallery, now through May 19. Born in Prague, Bufka graduated with honors from the Czech Film and Television Academy, FAMU, and worked as a director and cam- eraman for national television. He also formed a multimedia group under the umbrella of the state- owned ART Centrum. Bufka’s photo artwork won numerous awards and was pub- lished and exhibited worldwide…
Read Morethe Collins Connection: Charles Rappleye
Friday, May 16, 2003 4:07 PM By Michael Collins Last month’s column gave tribute to Charles Rappleye, former news editor and staff writer for the L.A. Weekly. But, here I am writing about Charlie again, and for good reason. This stalwart of the paper, and the Press Club, has decided to leave the Weekly after a wonderful and illustri- ous career at the paper after the publication and Charlie came to a mutual agreement that, effectively, ended his employment at the largest alternative news weekly in the nation. This came…
Read Moreprofile: Nicholas Royce: professional dancer philanthropist
Friday, May 16, 2003 3:45 PM BY PATT DIROLL Longtime club member Nicholas Royce, whose career as a professional dancer is legend, has been honored by U.S. Congresswoman Diane Watson and U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein for his activism in entertainment industry philanthropies and his efforts on behalf of the Greek Orthodox Church. Royce, 77, who danced on the Milton Berle, Ed Sullivan and Kate Smith television shows during the 1950s, has spent most of his adult life “kicking” — both on and off-stage — for humanitarian causes. The son of…
Read MoreEvent: Third Thursday Cocktails with Elmore Leonard
Friday, May 16, 2003 3:14 PM
Read More“But I Wanna Tell You”
Friday, May 16, 2003 3:12 PM Bob Hope, who turns 100 on May 29, served as toastmaster at the Los Angeles Press Club’s Headliner Honors in this photo from Nov. 20, 1975. Among those attending the event were Master of Ceremonies Johnny Grant, seated to the right of the ski-nosed entertainer, and Haig Keropian, then president of the Press Club, seated to the immediate left of Hope. To honor his century mark, and his work as a key supporter of the club over the years, the Los Angeles Press Club…
Read MoreWhy “8 Ball?” A Brief History
Friday, May 16, 2003 3:10 PM BY CHRIS WOODYARD As mysteries go, it hardly ranks with such enduring issues as the whereabouts of weapons of mass destruction or the ultimate fate of the Belmont Learning Center. But in Press Club circles, it’s a ques- tion that occasionally piques curiosity: why is the monthly newsletter called “The 8 Ball?” Sure, it has a cocktail-cool ring to it. But to anyone who has grown up smoth- ered in such newspaper lingo as ledes, heds, subheds, grafs, tick-tocks, thumb- suckers and the hallowed…
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