FishBowlNY was at the annual NY Press Club Journalism Conference at NYU to see NYT columnist, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and frequent TV news commentator Paul Krugman as the keynote speaker.

Krugman asserted that health care is not his specialty: “I’m not a real health care economist, I just play one on TV.”

He pronounced that he hates Twitter, but Krugman praised some of the econoblogs.

Krugman assured the crowd that the economy is “rare, but not unheard of,” and “if you’re not sure who’s right, the answer is that I am.”

Scheduled earlier due to train constraints, Krugman joked: “Time and the Acela wait for no man.”

The New York Press Club is set to convene it’s 17th annual conference at NYU’s Kimmel Center later this month.

The gathering, themed “Hard News in Hard Times,” will see late news legend Walter Cronkite inducted into the organization’s hall of fame and WCBS courts reporter Irene Cornell honored with a prize for outstanding achievement in journalism. David Faber of CNBC will provide the keynote address.

If conferences are your thing and you’re free on Saturday, September 26, you might consider forking over the $50 for non-members ($35 for members, $15 for students.) In addition to the usual fare of how-to’s, there are a number of panels focused in one way or another on the changing media landscape.

A list of panels at the conference after the jump

Read more

The New York Press Club yesterday announced the 62 winners of its 2009 Journalism Awards. BusinessWeek led the award count with seven wins, while The New York Times‘ David Barstow will accept the Gold Keyboard Award for excellence in investigative journalism at the June 15 ceremony.

Barstow was awarded the Gold Keyboard for his investigative series “Message Machine,” which focused on the Pentagon under former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the construction of the case for the war against and the occupation of Iraq.

Barstow’s work beat out two other finalists for the Gold Keyboard prize: The New York Daily News‘ investigation of the planning and construction of the new Yankee Stadium and Mark Thompson‘s Time magazine cover story about the U.S. military’s use of anti-depressant drugs, “America’s Medicated Army.”

In addition to the Gold Keyboard, the NYPC also chooses recipients for two other unique awards: the Nellie Bly Cub Reporter, which honors reporters with three years of experience or less, and the Reverend Mychal Judge Heart of New York for reporting that is most complimentary of New York City. Fortune Small Business‘s Mina Kimes will receive the Nellie Bly for her article “The End of Oil,” while the Rev. Mychal Judge Heart award will be bestowed upon three recipients: Sara Fishko of WNYC, the Associated Press‘ Beth J. Harpaz and Susan Dominus of the Times.

Over 300 entries were submitted to more than 20 categories of NYPC awards by New York-area newspapers, magazines, Web sites and TV and radio stations, with the winners picked by journalists, former journalists and academics with expertise in each specific category.

BusinessWeek was awarded prizes in the business reporting, consumer reporting, continuing coverage, feature reporting, political coverage and spot news categories. Several news organizations, including the Times, the AP, WCBS Newsradio, Bloomberg News, Newsweek/Newsweek.com and The Wall Street Journal all received four awards each.

A full list of the winners is after the jump

Read more