FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn To Deliver Keynote Remarks at Oct. 22 Event

FOR RELEASE: July 26, 2013

Contact: Richard T. Kaplar
The Media Institute
703-243-5700

Arlington, Va., July 26, 2013 – The Media Institute will bestow awards on National Association of Broadcasters President and CEO Gordon Smith and AMC Networks President and CEO Josh Sapan at its annual Friends & Benefactors Awards Banquet Oct. 22 at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Senator Smith will receive the American Horizon Award, while Sapan will receive the Freedom of Speech Award.  The master of ceremonies will be communications attorney and former FCC chairman Richard E. Wiley.

Gordon Smith represented Oregon for two terms in the U.S. Senate before joining the NAB in 2009.  In the Senate, he served on the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, which has responsibility for telecommunications issues.  Since joining the NAB, he has led the broadcasting industy into a new and innovative era marked by unprecedented challenges from other content delivery platforms.

Josh Sapan sets strategy and is responsible for the overall management of AMC Networks Inc., which owns and operates leading entertainment brands AMC, IFC, Sundance Channel, WE tv, and IFC Films.  Sapan is credited with transforming basic cable into a leading destination for compelling entertainment with series that include AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” “Mad Men,” and “Breaking Bad.”

Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) will present the American Horizon Award to fellow Oregon native Senator Smith.

FCC Acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn will deliver keynote remarks.  She has served on the Federal Communications Commission since 2009, and was appointed acting chairwoman by the president in May 2013.

The banquet is a principal way The Media Institute celebrates Free Speech Week, the nationwide annual event that takes place this year from Oct. 21 to Oct. 27.  (See freespeechweek.org.)

The Media Institute is a nonprofit research foundation specializing in communications policy and the First Amendment.  For more information, visit the Institute online at mediainstitute.org.