In honor of the 100th anniversary of his delivery, some PBS stations will probably be re-showing Mike Leonard’s great documentary in regards to the outstanding lifetime of Newton Minow. When he served because the Chair of the Federal Communications Fee, appointed by President Kennedy, he revolutionized tv by increasing viewer alternative via three main items of laws: creating PBS, launching the primary telecommunications satellite tv for pc, and requiring all new tv units to offer entry to channels on the Extremely-high Frequency band. Later, he championed closed captioning and helped safe the unique funding for “Sesame Avenue.”
He mentored dozens of younger folks, together with a summer season intern named Barack Obama. He by no means rode in a cab with out asking for the motive force’s complete life story, and when his daughters visited his workplace, he made positive they met his pals, the elevator operator, whose daughter he helped get into faculty, and the mail supply man whose spouse he helped along with her immigration issues.
In honor of his centenary, we’re re-publishing this tribute from his daughter, our contributing editor Nell Minow. The documentary can be accessible for free of charge right here.
On Might ninth, 1961, my dad, Newton Minow, the then-35-year-old Chairman of the FCC, made three important appearances. In Washington, he gave his well-known “huge wasteland” speech to the Nationwide Affiliation of Broadcasters, telling them that whereas “when tv is sweet, nothing is healthier,” he anticipated them to do extra to uphold their statutory obligation to serve “the general public curiosity, comfort, and necessity.” Then he went again to the FCC workplace, the place he met with Elizabeth Campbell to signal the unique license for WETA, the primary academic tv station within the nation’s capital, now the producer of the Ken Burns documentaries and the nightly Newshour. After which he flew to Chicago to attend the father-daughter dinner for my Brownie troop.
Dad was awarded our nation’s highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom, by Barack Obama, maybe partly as a result of President Obama met Michelle when he was an intern in my dad’s workplace, they usually assigned Michelle to be his supervisor. His charming story of working into them on their first date at a exhibiting of “Do the Proper Factor” is right here. An honor he cherishes virtually as a lot is inspiring the identify of the S.S. Minnow on “Gilligan’s Island,” the sinking ship on the three-hour tour, supposed as an insult to my dad because of his criticism of tv. He and “Gilligan’s Island” creator Sherwood Schwartz later exchanged cordial letters. My dad is all the time looking for frequent floor. He reached out to President Trump’s FCC appointee as quickly because the nomination was introduced. He stated, “I do know we don’t agree on many points, however let’s discover one we will work on collectively.” They co-authored an op-ed about telemedicine.
He stays vitally concerned within the problems with the day. My sister Martha, former dean of Harvard Legislation College, would be the first to inform you that the spotlight of her current e book, Saving the Information, is Dad’s introduction, titled “From Gutenberg to Zuckerberg.” In it, he talks in regards to the profound challenges modifications in expertise pose for the general public curiosity and the foundations of democracy. As all the time, he sees the alternatives as properly. He’s comfy writing about AI algorithms and deep fakes, however all the time within the context of the unquenchable optimism and unshakable integrity that shine via every thing he does. As soon as, he spoke to a bunch of younger legal professionals and informed them that a very powerful factor was to earn the shopper’s belief. One keen attendee raised his hand with a query. “How will we do this?” “Effectively,” Dad stated, “You can begin by being reliable.” Joyful birthday to the world’s greatest dad and a real and quintessentially reliable American hero.
