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Newton Minow 1926-2023

A tribute to Newton Minow, FCC Chair 1961-63, co-founder of PBS and the Presidential debates, and a "legal grandee" who worked with every President from Kennedy to Obama, mentored dozens of young people, and was the world's best dad and grandfather.

President Barack Obama Presenting the Medal of Freedom to Newton N. Minow

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November 23, 2016

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Statement of Patricia Harrison, President and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

May 17, 2023

May 7, 2023 WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 7, 2023) – Patricia Harrison, President and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), released the following statement today regarding the death of Newton Minow, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) at age 97. “All of us at CPB and the public media family across the country mourn the passing of Newt Minow, one of public broadcasting’s founding fathers. In his first major speech as FCC chairman in 1961, Newt called commercial television a 'vast wasteland' and advocated for programming in the public interest. His landmark speech is considered one of the most influential American speeches of all time and led to the creation of CPB and PBS and the educational programming and community service that characterizes today’s public media system. “One of the most accomplished lawyers in the nation, Newt was a pioneer in the launch of communications satellites, which led to the global information revolution and the ...

Tribute from former FCC Chair Tom Wheeler

May 16, 2023

From Brookings : The most demanding speech any Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) must deliver is the annual address to the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention. The echoes of Chairman Newton Minow’s 1961 “vast wasteland” speech to that organization have haunted every word in every Chair’s script for over six decades. Those of us who followed Newt were only aspirants to his vision of a public interest-driven FCC with the responsibility to challenge those it regulated. On May 6, 2023, Newton Minow died ; his 97 years were ones of continual contributions to his country and our national communications systems. Nineteen sixty-one, the first year of the Kennedy Administration, was the height of the power of television broadcasters. If a political leader or advertiser wanted to reach America, the path led through the three national networks and their local broadcast outlets. The message Minow delivered challenged those powerhouses to be ...