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Saying ‘Grace’ in Silence

Jun 20, 2005  •  Post A Comment

The guests were in full chatter mode at last week’s tented party for Nancy Grace, the Court TV and CNN Headline News personality who has her say about herself, her beliefs and her career in her new book, “Objection!” But Miss Grace put a stop to that when she got up to speak. “Hey! Hey! Hey! My gawd, people!” she bellowed.

The crowd-which included Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes, heavyweights from both CNN and Court TV, former CNN morning man Bill Hemmer, child-safety activist Mark Klaas and such made-for-TV lawyers as Mickey Sherman-immediately fell silent, something that had not happened just moments before during remarks by Court TV Chairman and CEO Henry Schleiff and CNN News Group President Jim Walton.





The Cooler Crowd

Thanks to a break in New York’s heat-and-humidity wave the following night, cooler talking heads prevailed at the garden party tossed by Tina Brown for Kathy O’Hearn, her executive producer on the late “Topic A With Tina Brown” and now the executive producer of ABC News’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos.”

There was not an unfamiliar face in the group. Most had become FOK (Friends of Kathy) during her stints with CBS News, CNN and ABC News-to which she is returning for this most challenging assignment. Former CBS News (and ABC News alumna) executive Betsy West made a particularly

welcome appearance.

Also attending: ABC News advisor Joe Armstrong, who told The Insider he is taking several months’ leave to work as a volunteer with children at Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall Camp; Erica Jong, whose “Fear of Flying” was perhaps too resonant in The Insider’s life and who was wearing a pale pinky-peachy version of the pale blue jeweled linen tunic Ms. O’Hearn was wearing; and a pony-tailed Barbara Walters, looking quite boho chic, who was still accepting compliments for the brown-and-white Diane von Furstenberg wrap dress she’d worn days earlier on “The View.”

Ms. Brown, who ended “Topic A” recently to write a book on the legacy of Princess Diana, told The Insider she’s deep into her research and still wrestling with how to organize it.





Marvin Kalb Gets Fox-y

The Insider hears that Fox News Channel is bringing distinguished newsman-turned-academician Marvin Kalb back to TV as a contributor who’ll comment on media and current affairs as news warrants. Mr. Kalb’s interview with Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes in April at the National Press Club ended the season of “The Kalb Report” forums, which were produced with George Washington University’s School of Media and

Public Affairs and The Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard University.



In Memoriam and Support

NBC News President Neal Shapiro’s mother, Mildred Shapiro, died June 12, the morning after she and her husband marked their 50th wedding anniversary with the family on hand.

Contributions in Mrs. Shapiro’s name can be made to the Parsons Child and Family Center, 60 Academy Road, Albany, N.Y. 12208, or to Capital Region Sponsor-A-Scholar, 432 Western Ave., Brubacher Hall, Room 141, Albany, N.Y. 12205.