FOR RELEASE: September 14, 2010
Contact: Richard T. Kaplar
The Media Institute
703-243-5700
Arlington, Va., Sept. 14, 2010 – New York City Dept. of Education Chancellor and former Clinton Administration official Joel Klein will present The Media Institute’s American Horizon Award to Rupert Murdoch at the Institute’s annual Friends & Benefactors Awards Banquet Oct. 6 in Washington, the Institute announced today.
Prior to heading the country’s largest public school system, Klein served in the White House Counsel’s office under President Clinton and then led the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.
Since becoming chancellor, Klein has worked with the Gates Foundation to fund the creation of 43 smaller schools in New York City. Those schools have a graduation rate of 73%, compared to 53% for the schools they replaced.
Former NCTA president Decker Anstrom will present the Institute’s Freedom of Speech Award to Kyle E. McSlarrow, NCTA’s current president and CEO. Anstrom recently retired as president of Landmark Communications and chairman of The Weather Channel Companies.
Former FCC chairman Richard E. Wiley of Wiley Rein LLP will introduce the banquet’s keynote speaker, FCC Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker.
The Media Institute is a nonprofit research foundation specializing in communications policy and the First Amendment. For more information, visit the Institute online at www.mediainstitute.org.