RESOLUTION
PUBLIC SESSION BOARD OF DIRECTORS
CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Wednesday, June 21, 2023
6 in favor, 2 absent
Resolved,
That the Board of Directors
of the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Expresses its Heartfelt Condolences
to the Family, Friends, and Colleagues of
Newton Norman Minow
Visionary. Leader. Friend.
We will long remember with gratitude Newton Minow, one of public broadcasting’s founding fathers.
As FCC chairman in 1961, Mr. Minow delivered his celebrated speech “Television and the Public Interest,” which described commercial television as a “vast wasteland,” and advocated for programming in the public interest. One of the most influential American speeches of all time, it led to the creation of CPB and the noncommercial, mission-focused public media system that continues to provide high-quality, educational content and fact-based news and information to the American people to this day.
As FCC Chairman, Mr. Minow advanced the passage of the All Channel Receiver Act, ensuring that new television sets would include a tuner to receive UHF channels, the portion of the spectrum to which most educational stations had been assigned. Mr. Minow was also a pioneer in the launch of communications satellites, which led to the global information revolution and the internet age.
An accomplished lawyer, Mr. Minow was devoted to strengthening the institutions of democracy and envisioned television as a medium for education, stimulation, and inspiration. He played a key role in establishing televised presidential debates. He served as board chair for public television station WTTW in his hometown Chicago, as it held its first membership drive and won its first Emmy Award. He later also served as chair of the PBS Board of Governors.
In 1982, CPB awarded Mr. Minow the distinguished public television Ralph Lowell Award for his outstanding individual contributions to public broadcasting. And in 2012, CPB awarded him the CPB Lifetime Achievement Award.
The CPB Board of Directors marks Newton Minow’s leadership, vision, and extraordinary service to public media and the American public with deep respect and appreciation and offers our condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues.