Media 
Gail Collins
America’s Woman Seasoned journalist Gail Collins sits in the chair at the New York Times that makes her the envy of every wordsmith in America. Appointed the Editorial Page Editor in 2001, the first woman to have the job, Collins has steered the department through the chaotic times of September 11, 2001, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Columbia shuttle tragedy and now into the presidential election of 2004.
But Collins has not only spent the past three years working in one of the most demanding positions in the media, she has spent nights and early mornings researching and writing the brilliant history book America’s Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates and Heroines. Published in 2003, the 556-page tome has been commended for its wit, insight and fascinating storytelling. She opens with the journey of the first female colonist, the aptly-named Eleanor Dare, traveling from England to Virginia in 1587 and closes with Betty Friedan, president of NOW, marching down Fifth Avenue in 1970 for women’s liberation. In between these two landmark events, the reader meets many previously ignored women who changed history through their bravery, intellect and strength.
Collins does not chronicle the oppression or discrimination of American women. Rather, she grapples with a more complex conflict, which is as much a hot button topic today as in centuries past. She illustrates the double life that women lead, being constantly caught between “the yearning to create a home and the urge to get out of it.” This conflict resonates within every individual woman today. Many times in our nation’s history, these decisions were made for women. Women were ordered into the home to care for their families when unemployment was high, and then they were sent out into the factories when their skills were needed during wartime.
But one group of women was uniquely known for being stuck in the home. For Irish immigrant women in the 1800s, there was little choice of employment on the East Coast aside from the unpopular domestic service. Collins points out that one reason the Irish became domestics is because they were the only group who came to America alone without their families. And rather than seek out cities and towns for the purposes of matrimony to start their own families, Irish women exercised more independence and looked for stable jobs. Those who did marry and have children were determined to secure better opportunities for their daughters, the first generation of Irish-Americans. Collins writes, “Those who survived the first generation in America usually engineered a very quick turnaround for their daughters.” They sent their girls to parochial schools and later ensured that they trained as teachers or nurses. Almost none of the next generation became domestics.
Collins told Irish America that she would have liked to expand on the Irish experience: “One of the things I didn’t have enough space to write about was how close the experience of the Irish and the African-American slaves were. And how so many Irish and Irish-American women lost their husbands [who died in accidents] when they worked dangerous jobs that slaves weren’t allowed to do.” Collins admits she would need to write another book to do justice to this period of history, and she has not committed to a new book project yet.
Born Gail Gleason in 1945, Collins is Irish on both sides of her family, but notes that her father, Roy Gleason, was very Irish-blooded whereas her mother Rita was only slightly Irish. However, it was Rita, whom she dedicated America’s Women to, who kept Irish stories and traditions alive in their household. Gail Gleason adopted another Irish name when she married Dan Collins, an editor at CBS News and with whom she co-authored The Millennium Book, published in 1991. Prior to American’s Women, Gail Collins also authored Scorpion Tongues: Gossip, Celebrity and American Politics in 1998.
While she was out promoting America’s Women, Collins found herself caught in a peculiar irony. Meeting with readers, she found herself facing questions about why today’s women still aren’t being promoted to the pinnacle of their professions. Before she had the chance to respond, she was interrupted by an audience member who exclaimed, “You’re asking the woman with the best job in journalism why women can’t get good jobs?” Collins laughs at the outburst and adds gleefully, “My job is one great job.”
– By Louise Carroll
 Sean Hannity
Conservative Voice Known for his provocative style, Sean Hannity joined the Fox News network in September 1996 as co-host of Hannity & Colmes (Monday-Friday, 9-10PM ET), a primetime one-hour debate-driven talk show focusing on the controversial issues and newsmakers of the day. He serves as the program’s conservative counterpart to liberal Alan Colmes. He also currently serves as the host of WABC-AM’s highly rated afternoon talk program, The Sean Hannity Show.
Hannity has interviewed many key political figures ranging from President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Steve Forbes, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Ralph Nader and Ken Starr.
Originally from Long Island, New York, Hannity has been named “Talk Show Host of the Year,” and one of the “Top 100 Talk Hosts in America,” by Talkers magazine.
In addition to his “on-air” duties, Hannity’s first book, Let Freedom Ring, a New York Times bestseller, cemented his place as the most avidly followed young conservative voice in the country. And now he returns with Deliver Us From Evil (ReganBooks), a hard-hitting follow-up that will galvanize his followers as we enter the 2004 political season.
In Deliver Us From Evil, now in bookstores, Hannity touches on all the political hot-button topics taking on everything from the Middle East and Africa to North Korea and Iraq, and what he considers to be the ongoing moral degradation of the American way of life.
Hannity’s grandparents are from County Cork and County Down.
 Keith Kelly
Media Mogul Keith J. Kelly has been called the city’s most influential media reporter by New York magazine and more recently, the “city’s most feared media reporter” by CBS Marketwatch.
For the past six years, Kelly has been the Media Ink columnist at the New York Post. His coups on the journalistic front this past year include being first to report that New York magazine had indeed gone on the block and that Bill Keller was going to ascend to the top job at the New York Times in the wake of the Jayson Blair fabrication scandal. His reporting was also presented as evidence in the Rosie O’Donnell trial, and will be used in an upcoming trial involving the now defunct Talk magazine.
Kelly is also a key figure behind the launch of the annual Kelly Gang luncheon of media heavyweights with Time magazine editor Jim Kelly, American Express Publishing president Ed Kelly, Time Warner’s Mike Kelly and the late Michael Kelly when he was the editor of Atlantic Monthly.
Before joining the Post Kelly worked at the Daily News in 1997-98 and prior to that he was a senior editor at Advertising Age. In 1980, as a freelance journalist in Belfast, he broke the news about the impending IRA hunger strike, which was a front page story in the Chicago Catholic newspaper.
Kelly, 49, was born in Brooklyn, New York. He is married to a nurse, Pat Walsh (daughter of Kerry football great Eddie Walsh), and they have three children: Ruairi (6), Luke (4), and Eamon (1). They live in the Stuyvesant Town area of Manhattan and visit Ireland every summer so that their children don’t lose contact with more than 30 first cousins in and around Knocknagoshel, Co. Kerry.
 Bill Madden
Sports Reporter Bill Madden joined the New York Daily News in 1978 after nine years at United Press International where he covered baseball, track and field and the Olympics. He was the Daily News’ Yankee beat writer from 1980-88 before becoming the News’ national baseball columnist. In his years with The News, Madden has broken numerous major baseball stories. He is the author of Pride of October: What It Was to Be Young and a Yankee, published in 2003, as well as two other books on baseball — Damned Yankees in collaboration with Moss Klein of the Newark Star-Ledger, and Don Zimmer’s best-selling autobiography, Zim–A Baseball Life. In June 2004 his book with Zimmer, The Zen of Zim, will be published.
Madden, who was born in Oradell, New Jersey and traces his Irish ancestry through his father, says he “always” wanted to be a sports writer. He earned a degree in journalism at the University of South Carolina, and got a job with the local newspaper in Columbia. His career as a sports writer got a boast from “another Irishman,” basketball coach Frank McGuire. McGuire, a hall of famer who inspired many kids, used a connection he had with Jack Griffin, sports editor at UPI – who hired Madden. Griffin used to be McGuire’s ball boy when he coached at St. John’s. The Daily News offered Madden a column in 1978, and this year they will publish a book of those columns.
 Bob Murphy
Encouraging Voice Bob Murphy, a Shea Stadium and baseball legend, retired this year at the age of 79. He spent 42 years as a broadcaster for the New York Mets after being chosen as one of the original broadcasters when the team was founded in 1962. Prior to being the voice of the team for Mets fans, he broadcasted for the Red Sox (1954-1959) and the Orioles (1960-1961).
Murphy, whose grandparents on his father’s side of the family came to America from Ireland, was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 1994. He told Irish America that it was the honor of which he was most proud, and explained that he had to resign to be inducted, as he served on the board of the Hall of Fame for many years. In 2002, Shea Stadium’s radio booth was named in his honor and he was elected to the Mets Hall of Fame in 1984.
Reflecting upon his years of service and his retirement from baseball, Murphy said, “I will miss the fact that I won’t be doing it every day. When spring training rolls around, I know I’ll miss it.” He has not ruled out the possibility that he might announce for an occasional game, but he makes his home now in Florida with his wife Joye. They took a trip to Ireland together a few years ago, which they enjoyed immensely.
 Conan O’Brien
Comic Genius In 2003 Conan O’Brien celebrated his 10th anniversary as the acclaimed host of Late Night. The celebratory season culminated in a primetime special with appearances by stars including Harrison Ford and Tom Hanks. A touching reunion with his former sidekick Andy Richter was included as well. But it was a big year for O’Brien behind the scenes also. Shortly after starting his 11th season as a talk show host, he became a father; an event he says changed him immensely.
At an early age O’Brien adopted a love of comedy and goofing off. “I was always someone who loved to perform,” said O’Brien, “but I don’t consider myself an actor. I always thought I was really good with people. That’s how I thought of myself as funny – interacting with other people.” He attended Harvard University where he received a BA in history and literature in 1985. During his time at Harvard, he worked at the famed humor magazine, the Harvard Lampoon. He rose to the position of editor, a post he held two years in a row, a feat accomplished by only one other person in the magazine’s history.
After graduation, O’Brien moved to Los Angeles and joined the writing staff of HBO’s Not Necessarily the News. He stayed with the show for two years and sharpened his comedic skills by writing for other variety shows like Fox’s short-lived The Wilton North Report and performing regularly with local improvisational groups like The Groundlings.
By 1988 his talents had come to the attention of legendary Saturday Night Live (SNL) producer Lorne Michaels, who hired O’Brien as a writer. His three-and-a-half year stint on the show included popular recurring sketches such as “Mr. Short-Term Memory” and “The Girl Watchers.” In 1989, he was awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy or Variety Series for his work on SNL.
In the spring of 1991, O’Brien left SNL and wrote and produced a television pilot, Lookwell starring Adam West of Batman fame. The pilot was not picked up as a series and that fall O’Brien signed on as a writer/producer for the hugely successful Fox series, The Simpsons. He eventually became the show’s supervising producer.
On April 26, 1993, O’Brien was selected from many talented potential hosts to replace David Letterman on NBC’s Late Night. Letterman had vacated the spot to start his own show at CBS. Many executives at NBC were wary of the decision because O’Brien was still relatively unknown and had never been in front of the camera before. The show got off to a rocky start and was almost canceled because of low ratings. But a strong and loyal fan base was eventually established which helped the show get through the early years.
O’Brien is known for his eccentric and offbeat sense of humor with skits ranging from the absurd to the bizarre. Some fan favorites are “In the Year 2000” and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. O’Brien says the best humor
“creates a sense of uneasiness.” His style is abstract or surreal comedy, in the tradition of Monty Python. One of his trademarks is that he begins each show by jumping around on stage, ending with a huge leap. For a man who is 6’5” in stature – it is truly funny. His show has been called “the smartest hour in late night.”
A native of Brookline, Massachusetts, O’Brien grew up in a large Irish Catholic family, the third of six children. With marked humor, he says his Irishness helped him get to where he is today. “I was the middle child in a large Irish family. I was fighting for attention, fighting for power. The only way I could get it was to get a TV show,” he jokes. He is a distant cousin of fellow funnyman and last year’s Top 100 honoree Denis Leary. O’Brien is married to Liza Powell, an advertising copywriter and they have a six-month-old daughter named Neve. The family resides in New York City.
– By Brendán Cummings
 Pat O’Brien
Hospitable Host Undeniably Irish with his red hair and freckles, broadcast journalist Pat O’Brien has been in the media for over 22 years covering news, sport and entertainment. He has been the co-anchor of Access Hollywood, the daily entertainment news magazine show, since 1997. This year he was the first journalist to interview Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez together as a couple, a prized interview for the most-sought-after couple during their relationship in 2003. Prior to his success at Access Hollywood, O’Brien was an anchor at CBS Sports, a network he joined back in 1981. And although he is rubbing shoulders with the red-carpet set most days of the week, he has not left sports broadcasting behind. Next summer, O’Brien will host an Olympic morning show for Bravo from Athens, Greece. In addition, he will host the first week of NBC’s late night show for the 2004 Olympic Games.
O’Brien told Irish America about his numerous visits to the White House for Irish events, such as meeting the then Irish President Mary Robinson, during Clinton’s presidency. He said, “Conan O’Brien and I would get phone calls from the White House to come for those events and we had a great time.” Often the TV host for the St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York, O’Brien traces his Irish roots to his great-grandmother who came to America from County Kerry. He resides in Los Angeles with his wife and their son.
 Soledad O’Brien
Popular Anchor Her name may mean “solitude” in Spanish, but anchorwoman Soledad O’Brien is anything but idle. O’Brien reached a career milestone in 2003 when she joined CNN, co-anchoring American Morning with Bill Hemmer. 2003 also marks O’Brien’s second time being honored as one of the Top 100 Irish Americans. Her work this year has included such major news coverage as the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster and the war in Iraq, furthering her reputation as one of America’s preeminent newscasters.
After graduating from Harvard University, O’Brien got her start in journalism through technology reporting, which eventually led to a position with MSNBC, then a fledging cable news channel. She joined NBC News in July 1999 as anchor of Weekend Today occasionally appearing on such programs as The Today Show and NBC Nightly News. Four years after joining NBC News, O’Brien accepted her new position with CNN. Viewership has been up ever since she joined the network, a testament to both O’Brien’s popularity as a television news figure and her status as a trusted broadcast journalist.
Gaining her Irish heritage from her Irish-Australian father, Soledad O’Brien is also African-American and Cuban-American through her maternal heritage. She is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. Her ancestors hail from County Cork.
 Tim Russert
Brilliant Interviewer Staging a rare coup in broadcast journalism, Tim Russert sat down in the Oval Office with President George W. Bush on February 7, 2004 for a one hour exclusive interview and grilled the commander-in-chief on Iraq, the economy and weapons of mass destruction. Ever since he took over the helm of Meet the Press in December 1991, Russert has made waves and the show has become the most watched Sunday morning interview program in America and the most quoted news program in the world. Now in its 57th year, Meet the Press is the longest-running program in the history of television. Russert has interviewed every major figure on the American political scene, and has received numerous honors including Radio and Television Correspondents’ highest honors, the Joan S. Barone Award and the Annenberg Center’s Walter Cronkite Award.
In addition to moderating MTP, Russert anchors The Tim Russert Show, a weekly interview program on CNBC. He is a contributing anchor for MSNBC, a political analyst for NBC Nightly News and the Today program, and serves as senior vice president and Washington bureau chief of NBC News.
Before joining NBC News, Russert observed firsthand the inner workings of the executive and legislative branches of government as counselor in the New York Governor’s office in Albany in 1983 and 1984 and a special counsel in the United States Senate from 1977 to 1982.
Russert was born in Buffalo, New York on May 7, 1950. He is a graduate of Canisius High School, John Carroll University and graduated with honors from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.
He is admitted to the bar in New York and the District of Columbia.
Six of Russert’s eight great-grandparents were Irish, and he is related to the legendary Irish hurler Christy Ring. He is married to Maureen Orth, a writer for Vanity Fair magazine. They live in Washington, D.C. with their son, Luke.
 Greta van Susteren
Legal Expert When it comes to Greta van Susteren, it seems that everyone has an opinion. Since her controversial decision to leave CNN for rival cable channel Fox News, pundits from every angle of the political spectrum have claimed her for their side, but what can’t be disputed is van Susteren’s impact on broadcast journalism. With over one million viewers nightly for On the Record with Greta van Susteren, she is the most popular woman in primetime cable.
It was law, not politics, that brought van Susteren to television. Having gained a reputation as an attorney and as an adjunct law professor at Georgetown University, van Susteren joined CNN in 1991 as a legal analyst. Her rise to prominence came in 1994 when she was CNN’s principal analyst for the O.J. Simpson trial. She went on to host The Point and Burden of Proof for CNN before joining Fox News in February of 2002.
In 2003, van Susteren, who is Irish on her mother’s side, made the jump into print with the publication of her book My Turn at the Bully Pulpit: Straight Talk About the Things That Drive Me Nuts. The book offers van Susteren a chance to discuss with candor the political and social issues that are at the forefront of her legal and journalistic work. It is certain to be representative of van Susteren herself – controversial, intriguing, and undeniably distinctive.
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