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Newton Norman Minow (born January 17, 1926) is best known for his "Vast Wasteland" speech, given to the National Association of Broadcasters convention on May 9, 1961. It was extremely critical of the broadcasters for not doing more to meet their requirement to serve the public interest. At the time, he was serving as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. He was appointed to the FCC by John F. Kennedy.
He also wrote the regulations requiring TVs to receive both UHF and VHF, which was important in the creation of public television.
During World War II, Minow served as a sergeant in the US Army in the China/Burma/India theater.
Upon graduation from Northwestern University Law School, he served as law clerk to Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson of the U.S. Supreme Court and then as assistant counsel to Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson.
He has also served as chairman of Public Broadcasting Service and its predecessor, National Educational Television. He is a recent past-president of the Carnegie Foundation, one of PBS' most influential sponsors, along with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. He served as chairman of The RAND Corporation, and as a trustee of the Mayo Clinic. He is a life trustee of Northwestern University and the University of Notre Dame. He co-chaired the 1976 and 1980 presidential debates and is a director of the Commission on Presidential Debates, which sponsors the debates. He has served on numerous presidential commissions, and is Chairman of a special Advisory Committee to the Secretary of the Defense on protecting civil liberties in the fight against terrorism.
He is the Walter Annenberg Professor Emeritus at Northwestern University, as well as the author of four books and numerous professional journal and magazine articles. He is the recipient of 12 honorary degrees. His wife, Josephine Baskin Minow, serves on the boards of many community organizations, including the Chicago Historical Society. He has three daughters, all lawyers, Nell Minow, shareholder activist and movie critic, Martha L. Minow, Harvard law professor, and Mary, a library law expert.
Trivia
The S.S. Minnow of the 1964–1967 television show Gilligan's Island was named for him to express the producer's displeasure with his assessment of the quality of television.
Books
- Abandoned in the Wasteland: Children, Television, and the First Amendment (ISBN 0809015897)
- Presidential Television (ISBN 0465062741)
- For Great Debates: A New Plan for Future Presidential TV Debates (ISBN 0870782126)
- A Digital Gift for the Nation (with Larry Grossman) (ISBN 0870784668)
- Equal Time: The Private Broadcaster and the Public Interest (AISN B0007DZB86)
External links
- Text of the "Vast Wasteland" speech
- Spoken word recordings of Newton Minow
- "Newton Minow" - biography at Museum of Broadcast Communications