Straus Media Editor Keith J. Kelly, Five Others Inducted into Journalism Hall of Fame

The constellation of journalism legends grew brighter by magnitudes when the Deadline Club of New York inducted six new members into its journalism Hall of Fame, including Straus Media/Manhattan editor-in-chief Keith J. Kelly, on Thursday, Nov. 20.

The celebratory luncheon was held at the Harvard Club at 35 W. 44th St. before more than 100 guests, friends, family, and colleagues of the honorees. Among the boldface names present were New York Post Editor-in-chief Steve Lynch; this paper’s owner, Jeanne Straus, who lured Kelly out of his beard-growing retirement in January 2023; legendary WNBC anchor Sue Simmons, weatherman Al Roker and NBC chief investigative reporter Jonathan Dienst.

This year’s ceremony was largely emceed by former CBS News correspondent Steve Dunlop. In order of their appearance, those draped with the Hall of Fame’s bright blue and yellow ribbon were:

Bill Whitaker, Philadelphia native and “60 Minutes” correspondent. Whitaker, who wasn’t in attendance but did record a video for the event, was introduced by his CBS News colleague Alturo Rhymes, who described him “as one of my heroes.”

Keith J. Kelly—who could have foretold that a Brooklyn-born Suffolk County boy who ran track for St. Anthony’s High School and who, failing to interest any New York City newspapers in his potential after graduating SUNY Oneonta with an English Lit degree, was facing life as a hod carrier or an insurance salesman, would ever go so far?

Thank the Smithtown News for that, specifically Vicky Penner Katz Whitaker “who hired me on the spot after a writing test,” Kelly would recall. “She said, ‘I’m going to hang onto your cover letter because one day you’re going to be famous.’ ”

Martha Teichner, from Michigan, first went on air in November 1977 and has been a correspondent for “CBS Sunday Morning” since December 1993. Teichner was inducted by Mo Rocca, who called her “a brilliant writer—I’d say she’s the best writer in the business, but I don’t want to start a food fight here.”

Chuck Scarborough, of WNBC New York, began his career in Biloxi, Miss. He was introduced by Melissa Russo, who observed that when she began at WNBC 26 years ago, it was her “dream television station, one that was iconic, credible, polished, and smart—in large part because of Chuck Scarborough.”

Tina Brown, the legendary Vanity Fair and New Yorker editor whose still-strong English accent needs no introduction. Nonethless, Brown was introduced by past Deadline Club president Claire Regan, who began “When Tina Brown’s fingers hit the keyboard, watch out—and get ready for all hell to break loose!”

Rich Lamb was a beloved voice onWCBS 880 News radio for 43 years. Lamb was introduced by Sean Adams, who hailed “his heart” and “his poetry. Rich is a wordsmith. . . . A dangling tree limb in a storm becomes the sword of Damocles.”

Two Business Reporters Sitting in a Newsroom

Keith Kelly was introduced by his former New York Post newsroom neighbor Jesse Angelo. Interestingly, Angelo sounded less like a deadline-crushed reporter and more like a charismatic novelist at a reading when he began:

“Allow me to set the scene for you. It’s the year 2000 in the New York Post newsroom. Freshly anointed Wall Street beat reporter, age 26, and very unsure of himself, takes a seat in the business section next to his new colleague, Keith Kelly. It was another era, when the people who ran magazines strode across the media landscape like colossi: Si Newhouse, Steve Florio, James Truman, Richard ‘Mad Dog’ Beckman.

“And while some of those boldface names still have single-moniker recognition—here’s looking at you, Tina, Anna, Graydon—coverage of the media now is diffuse, unfocused, corruptible, and corrupted, always weaponized.

“But 25 years ago media coverage was scintillating, must-read, scandalous, when that word still meant something. And the red hot center of it was Keith Kelly’s Media Ink column.

“The Condé Nast holiday seating plan got a two-page spread in the newspaper—Keith.

“The launch party of Talk magazine—at Liberty Island no less—needed a publication plan akin to the Super Bowl’s, since it went late into the night and had to span three editions—Keith.

“The Frank Gehry Cafeteria was simply the most important story in the history of mankind—all Keith.

“Sitting next to Keith was an education, an honor, and so much fun.

“He would call the office of one of the aforementioned bigshots, and in his famous gravel-inflected voice say, ‘Keith Kelly here, is he available?’ A message would be taken by a secretary, and Keith and I would then sit back and joke about how long it would take [for them] to call back. Usually sub-five minutes. And the reason they called back wasn’t because they were scared, though scared they certainly were.

“And it wasn’t because they wanted to spin Keith out of it, though they certainly tried in vain to do so many times. It was because they needed to know what Keith knew. In the age before cell phones and internet ubiquity, Keith had the goods, every time. And if you knew what he knew before you got to lunch at Michael’s, you just might get ahead of the gossip curve, or even save your job.

“Keith made me understand what makes a truly great beat reporter. It’s not about being the apex predator. It’s about being so deeply embedded in the ecosystem, like water or sunlight, that ecosystem does not exist without you or it’s so radically changed without you as to be unrecognizable. Not coincidentally, I realized I was never going to be a great beat reporter and that was that.

“As good a journo as Keith is, it’s also how decent a man he is. He never punched down in his column, he was never cruel. He was always fair, and he was completely uncorruptible.

“Many media reporters become enthralled by their beat, and develop delusions of grandeur. They think ‘I can be a media mogul too; it doesn’t look too hard.’ Some succeed, most do not. But Keith never really cared about the glitz and glamour. He lived in StuyTown, with his wife Pat, an oncology nurse at MSK [Memorial Sloan Kettering]; his sister Kathy was a narcotics detective in Brooklyn North.

“On weekends, he didn’t go the Hamptons, he hung out with his boys. Ruairí is a firefighter now and captain in the Marine Reserves; Luke is an EMT; Eamon just took the FDNY test. I assure you, Keith is more proud of them than any scoop he got in the newspaper.

“There are people who cover the media beat with more flair than Keith, more splashy book deals, more snark and more noise, but nobody ever covered it better than Keith or with more integrity, period. Ladies and gentleman, Keith Kelly.”

Gravel to Gravel Local Coverage

“Thank you, Jesse, for that warm introduction,” Kelly began in that gravel-inflected voice. “And a heartfelt thanks to my peers and colleagues and the Deadline Club. It’s quite an honor to be honored at the 100th anniversary of the Deadline Club, it’s a pretty amazing streak.

“I also want to acknowledge my three sons, which Jesse already did. He’s correct: They are my pride and joy. And all credit to them, but most of the credit goes to my lovely wife for 31 years, Pat Walsh, Irish born—a lot of integrity there.

“And a big thank-you to the New York Post and Straus [Media] for letting my freeloading relatives sit at your tables.”

The crowd laughed because they knew the beaming honoree was joking. Call it the old Kelly touch—and he’s not done yet.

He said he’s looking forward to covering the city on the pages of Our Town, the West Side Spirit, Chelsea News and the Our Town Downtown as a new administration takes over City Hall and the City Council.

“It’s going to be wild here in New York,” Kelly said. “We’re going to have a blast and I’m happy to be there watching every step of the way.”