Newton N. Minow

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Newton N. Minow

Born January 17, 1926
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Residence Winnetka, Illinois, USA
Occupation Honorary Consul General, Republic of Singapore, attorney
Employers Sidley Austin LLP
Spouse Josephine Baskin
Children Nell, Martha, Mary

Newton Norman Minow (born January 17, 1926) is an American attorney and former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. His speech referring to television as a "Vast Wasteland" is cited even as the speech approaches its 50th anniversary. While still maintaining a law practice, Minow is currently the Honorary Consul General of Singapore in Chicago.[1]

He has been active in Democratic party politics. Minow is an influential attorney in private practice concerning telecommunications law and is active in many non-profit, civic, and educational institutions.

Contents

[edit] Background and early law career

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1926, Minow served in World War II from 1944 to 1946 and attained the rank of a sergeant in the U.S. Army. He served in the China-Burma theater with the 835th Signal Service Battalion headquartered in New Delhi, India.[2] After the war, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1949 from Northwestern University and a J.D. degree in 1950 from Northwestern University School of Law. It was possible in the period after the war for law students, who had not completed college, to be granted a bachelors degree after a certain period of study in law school.

After graduating from law school, Minow worked for the law firm of Mayer, Brown & Platt (1950-1951 and 1953-1955) before becoming a law clerk to Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson of the U.S. Supreme Court (1951-1952). He later became assistant counsel to Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson (1952-1953), worked for Stevenson's two presidential campaigns (1952 and 1956), and then was a partner in the law firm, Stevenson, Rifkind & Wirtz (1955-1961). Minow campaigned for President John F. Kennedy prior to the 1960 presidential election.[3] In 1961 he was appointed by President Kennedy to be one of seven commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as well as its Chair.[4][5]

[edit] Federal Communications Commission Chair

Reportedly, Robert F. Kennedy, brother of John F. Kennedy, and Minow frequently talked at length about the increasing importance of television in the lives of their children during the Kennedy presidential campaign. Thereafter, it came as little surprise that after the election Minow eagerly pursued the position of FCC Chair. Some observers nevertheless considered it unusual given his lack of experience with the media industry and with communication law.[4]

[edit] Criticism and evaluation

Main article: Wasteland speech

Minow became one of the most well known and respected -- if sometimes controversial -- political figures of the early 1960s because of his criticism of commercial television. In a speech given to the National Association of Broadcasters convention on May 9, 1961, he was extremely critical of television broadcasters for not doing more, in Minow's view, to serve the public interest. His phrase, "vast wasteland", is remembered years after the speech after he said,

When television is good, nothing -- not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers -- nothing is better. But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit and loss sheet or rating book to distract you -- and keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland.

While some applauded his "vast wasteland" assault on commercial television as a welcome criticism of excessive violence and frivolity, others criticized it as an elitist, snobbish attack on programming that many viewers enjoyed and as government interference with private enterprise. The S. S. Minnow of the 1964–1967 television show Gilligan's Island was sarcastically named for him to express displeasure with his assessment of the quality of television.[6]

[edit] Achievements at the Federal Communications Commission

Minow did foster two significant initiatives that altered the landscape of American television. The first was the All Channels Act (1961), which mandated UHF reception capability for all television sets sold in the U.S. This legislation sparked an increase in the number of television stations and helped launch non-profit educational television stations (now PBS) throughout the country.

Minow said his greatest contribution was persuading Congress to pass legislation clearing the way for communications satellites. Minow recounts "When I toured the space program with Kennedy, he was surprised to see me". Minow told Kennedy that "communications satellites will be much more important than sending man into space because they will send ideas into space. Ideas last longer than men."[3]

During his two years in office, it was estimated that, other than the president, Minow generated more column-inches of news coverage than any other federal official. He also promoted what ultimately became the International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium (Intelsat). This organization controlled satellite communications for many years.

Newton Minow's papers from his tenure at the FCC are archived at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, an organization co-sponsored by the University of Wisconsin, Madison and the Wisconsin Historical Society. [7] [8]

Quote from a speech to the Association of American Law Schools:

"After 35 years, I have finished a comprehensive study of European comparative law. In Germany, under the law, everything is prohibited, except that which is permitted. In France, under the law, everything is permitted, except that which is prohibited. In the Soviet Union, under the law, everything is prohibited, including that which is permitted. And in Italy, under the law, everything is permitted, especially that which is prohibited."[9]

[edit] Subsequent communications work

He has been on the Board of Governors of the Public Broadcasting Service and its predecessor, National Educational Television serving from 1973-1980 and serving as its Chairman from 1978 to 1980. He is a recent past-president of the Carnegie Corporation, an influential PBS sponsor, and the original funder of Sesame Street.

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. Minow has supported and written about the Digital Promise Project, a project to fulfill the educational potentional of the internet.[10][11]

[edit] Sidley Austin LLP

He is Senior Counsel in the Chicago headquartered law firm of Sidley Austin LLP (formerly Sidley and Austin prior to a merger with Brown and Wood), a large international law firm with multiple areas of expertise, including telecommunications related law. Between 1965 and 1991, he was a managing partner in the law firm before becoming Senior Counsel in 1991.[12]

[edit] Honorary Consul General of the Republic of Singapore

Minow's early contact to Singapore and Singaporean officials was through his law work at Sidley Austin, which opened a Singapore office in 1982. Even when he was FCC Chair, he worried about the increasing export of Hollywood programming overseas and the impact it would have on perceptions of the United States among citizens in other countries.

He was appointed Honorary Consul General in 2001.[2] His office processes consular and visa applications while some Singaporean honorary consuls refer such matters to another embassy or consular office.[13]

[edit] Awards and corporate work

Minow has sat on the Board of Directors at Foote, Cone & Belding Communications Inc.; Tribune Co.; Manpower, Inc. [14]; AON Corp.; CBS, and Sara Lee Corporation. He has been Chairman of the Board at RAND corporation. He was trustee of the Chicago Orchestral Association as well as with the Mayo Foundation, which operates Mayo Clinic.[4] [15] He is a life trustee of Northwestern University and the University of Notre Dame, where he was the first Jewish member of the board. He co-chaired the 1976 and 1980 presidential debates and is a vice-chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates. He has served on numerous presidential commissions and was chairman of a special advisory committee to the Secretary of Defense on protecting civil liberties in the fight against terrorism. His book on the history of the Presidential debates was released in March 2008 by the University of Chicago Press.

Minow is the recipient of 12 honorary degrees. He was a recipient of the Peabody Award in 1961[4] and the Woodrow Wilson Award for public service.[2]

[edit] Personal life

His wife, Josephine Baskin Minow, serves on the boards of many community organizations, including the Chicago History Museum. He has three daughters, all trained as lawyers; Nell Minow, shareholder activist and movie critic; Martha L. Minow, Harvard law professor; and Mary, a library law expert.

[edit] Books

  • Abandoned in the Wasteland: Children, Television, and the First Amendment ISBN 0-8090-1589-7
  • Presidential Television ISBN 0-465-06274-1
  • For Great Debates: A New Plan for Future Presidential TV Debates ISBN 0-87078-212-6
  • A Digital Gift for the Nation (with Larry Grossman) ISBN 0-87078-466-8
  • Equal Time: The Private Broadcaster and the Public Interest AISN B0007DZB86
  • Inside the Presidential Debates: Their Improbable Past and Promising Future (co-authored by Craig L. LaMay) ISBN 0-226-53041-8

[edit] References

  1. ^ Singapore Missions Worldwide. Republic of Singapore (2006-03-01). Retrieved on 2007-05-26.
  2. ^ a b c Newton Minow: Honorary Consul General in Chicago. Singapore Embassy (February/March 2006). Retrieved on 2007-05-27.
  3. ^ a b Eric Martin (2004-10-29). Debate Expert and Medill Board Member Newton Minow Shares Election Observations. Northwestern University. Retrieved on 2007-05-27.
  4. ^ a b c d Michael Curtin. Minow, Newton. Museum of Broadcast Communications. Retrieved on 2007-05-26.
  5. ^ About the FCC. Federal Communications Commission (2007-04-12). Retrieved on 2007-05-26.
  6. ^ Legal Tales from Gilligan's Island. Santa Clara Law Review & Jamail Center for Legal Research. Retrieved on 2007-05-27.
  7. ^ Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research. Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved on 2007-06-04.
  8. ^ Department of Communication Arts. University of Wisconsin, Madison. Retrieved on 2007-06-04.
  9. ^ Ball and McCulloch, 1993 p 368
  10. ^ Digital Promise Project (US). The Century Foundation (2001-05-04). Retrieved on 2007-05-26.
  11. ^ H.R. 1320, the Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act. House Committee on Energy and Commerce (2003-03-25). Retrieved on 2007-05-26.
  12. ^ Our Professionals: Newton N. Minow. Sidley Austin LLP. Retrieved on 2007-05-26.
  13. ^ Consulates in the United States. Singapore Embassy. Retrieved on 2007-05-27.
  14. ^ Manpower Inc proxy. Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved on 2007-05-27.
  15. ^ Mayo Foundation Board of Trustees. Mayo Clinic. Retrieved on 2007-05-27.

[edit] External links

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[edit] Additional resources

  • Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, Madison, Wisconsin
Preceded by
Frederick W. Ford		 Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission
March 1961–June 1963		 Succeeded by
E. William Henry