RICK DUNHAM, PRESIDENT OF PRESS CLUB:
And now, from the serious to the humorous. Our final
category tonight is the Angele Gingras Humor Award --
and that is not the "Gingrich" humor award.
It recognizes great humor writing in honor of a longtime
National Press Club member who specialized in writing
amusing stories for magazines and newspapers. A $1,000
prize is given to each winner.
The winner for a single entry goes to Bill Shein of
the Berkshire Eagle. According to the judges, many columnists
strive for an unusual take on the news, but Bill Shein
succeeds with a
wonderfully absurdist interview with the stolen painting,
“The Scream.” The idea of a kidnapped
painting is startling enough, but Shein permeates the
painting’s one line -- a scream, naturally --
with many layers of dismay, anger, and frustration in
response to Shein’s own clueless questions.
So, my question is, is Bill Shein here?
BILL SHEIN: Thank you. Thank you very
much. Thank you very much. You know, I told a lot of
people that winning this award was something of a fluke.
And I had that confirmed when I got here tonight and
looked at the list of judges and saw Brit Hume's name.
Because twice a week, when I sit down to write my column
for the Berkshire Eagle, I first look at a little bracelet
that I wear that says, “What would make Brit Hume
laugh?”
Let me thank a couple of folks tonight. First, of course,
my friends at the Berkshire Eagle, particularly Bill
Everhart, a great editorial page editor who believes,
as I do, that humor and satire really can be a powerful
agent for change. When I get back up to western Massachusetts
I know he’s going to be excited to hear that they’ve
seated the Berkshire Eagle just inches away from a newspaper
with 100 or 200 times the circulation, the New York
Times. [Addressing the Times' table] Watch your back.
Also, of course, my thanks to the National Press Club.
I haven’t been to the press club in a long time,
and when I got here I went to find the First Amendment
Lounge for the cocktail hour, and I got a little lost.
And I actually ended up running into Karl Rove down
in the Fifth Amendment Lounge. He didn’t really
have much to say.
Finally, the column that I write is called “Reason
Gone Mad,” and the title comes from an old Groucho
Marx quote that “Humor is reason gone mad.”
I chose that name also because I believe that it’s
a good description of the times that we’re living
in right now, when the people seem to often cheer the
policies that benefit largely the powerful, and perhaps
not coincidentally, a time when the “news business”
seems to be less about news and more about
business.
I think events like this remind us that more than ever,
democracy needs quality journalism.
Thank you very much.
