Law360 has reported…….
Newton N. Minow a former FCC chairman and Sidley Austin LLP senior counsel, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Tuesday, commemorating his contributions to broadcasting regulations in the early 1960s and a lifetime of legal and academic service.
Minow is often remembered for describing television as a “vast wasteland” during the early days of broadcast regulation. He served for two years at the Federal Communications Commission and became known for challenging the media to serve the public interest, before heading to private practice at Sidley Austin, where he remains of counsel.
President Barack Obama introduced Minow, whom he worked for at Sidley Austin during the start of his own legal carrier, as someone whose career is “defined by his devotion to others,” according to a transcript.
“Now, every journalist in the room, every media critic knows the phrase Newt Minow coined: the ‘vast wasteland,’” Obama said, according to a transcript. “But the two words Newt prefers we remember from his speech to the nation’s broadcasters are these: ‘public interest.’ That’s been the heartbeat of his life’s work — advocating for residents of public housing, advising a governor and Supreme Court justice, cementing presidential debates as our national institution, leading the FCC.”
The president also dovetailed into a personal aside, as he met his wife Michelle at Sidley Austin during the start of their legal careers.
“As far as I know, he’s the only one of today’s honorees who was present on my first date with Michelle,” Obama said. “Imagine our surprise when we saw Newt, one of our bosses that summer, at the movie theater — ‘Do the Right Thing.’ So he’s been vital to my personal interests.”
Prior to joining the Kennedy administration, Minow served in the U.S. Army in World War II, worked as a clerk to Supreme Court Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson and was assistant counsel to Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson. Minow earned both his bachelor’s degree and his law degree from Northwestern University, where he maintains extensive affiliations.
President Kennedy tapped Minow, then 34, to head the FCC in 1961. It was in one of his earliest public speeches that Minow made the “vast wasteland” remark while addressing broadcast executives, according to the Museum of Broadcast Communications.
Minow has received various other awards and honors, including the American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award, Chicago Bar Association John Paul Stevens Award, Federal Communications Bar Association Lifetime Achievement Award and the American Lawyer Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as 14 honorary degrees.
Full report at https://www.law360.com/articles/865995?sidebar=true
