FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks To Deliver Keynote Address

FOR RELEASE: October 4, 2019

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

Arlington, Va., October 4, 2019 – The Media Institute will bestow awards on Frederick J. Ryan, Jr., publisher and CEO of The Washington Post, and Caroline Beasley, CEO of Beasley Media Group, LLC, at its annual “Free Speech America” Gala on Monday, Oct. 7. The event will take place at The Four Seasons Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Ryan will receive the Freedom of Speech Award for upholding principles of free speech and free press throughout a journalism career that has spanned print, broadcast, cable, and digital media. Presenting the award will be Pamela Brown, senior White House correspondent for CNN.

Beasley will receive the American Horizon Award for her visionary industry leadership, helping grow a family-owned radio business from a single AM station into a 65-station multi-media corporation. The award will be presented by Senator Gordon Smith, president and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB).

FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks will deliver keynote remarks. He has been a commissioner since January 2019. Commissioner Starks served as assistant bureau chief of the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau and had been a senior counsel at the Department of Justice.

The master of ceremonies will be communications attorney and former FCC chairman Richard E. Wiley of Wiley Rein LLP.

Under the leadership of Fred Ryan, The Washington Post has been recognized for excellence in journalism with multiple Pulitzer prizes. Previously, Ryan had been president of both Allbritton Communications and POLITICO, which he co-founded in 2007.

Caroline Beasley held several senior-level positions before becoming CEO of Beasley Media Group in 2017. She has served as joint board chair of the National Association of Broadcasters board of directors and is a past chairman of the NAB radio board.

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

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