2026 Awardee Profiles

Jack Abernethy has served as Chief Executive Officer of FOX Television Stations (FTS) since 2004, overseeing Fox Corporation’s 29 owned and operated stations in some of the nation’s largest television markets.

The FOX stations are industry leaders based on the growth and success of locally produced programming, more than doubling under Mr. Abernethy’s leadership, with over 1,500 hours of local news every week. He is directly responsible for the creation of the national network MyNetworkTV.

From August 2016 through May 2018, Mr. Abernethy served as Co-President of FOX News Channel and FOX Business Network. Mr. Abernethy served as Executive Vice President of FOX News from 1996 to 2004, where he was integral to the successful launch of the channel. Before joining FOX, Mr. Abernethy had a distinguished 15-year career with NBC.

In October 2018, Mr. Abernethy received Broadcasting & Cable’s “Broadcaster of the Year” award and TVNewsCheck named FTS “TV Station Group of the Year.” In both 2017 and 2018, he was named one of The Hollywood Reporter’s “35 Most Powerful People in New York Media,” and was inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame in 2012. Mr. Abernethy currently is a board member of the National Association of Television Program Executives.

Jan Neuharth is Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Freedom Forum, a nonpartisan, nonprofit foundation dedicated to fostering First Amendment freedoms for all. She has served as Chair since 2011 and CEO since 2015.

Under Ms. Neuharth’s leadership, Freedom Forum has built on its longstanding leadership in press freedom and First Amendment education, expanding its work to make the five freedoms meaningful in the lives of all Americans.

Ms. Neuharth has championed new ways to bring the First Amendment to life and meet people where they are – from supporting dedicated First Amendment reporters in communities across the country to launching Freely Fest, a music festival celebrating the power of music and the freedoms protected by the First Amendment.

Today, Freedom Forum is working toward an America where everyone knows, values, and defends the freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition.

Ms. Neuharth earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida, a Juris Doctor from Vanderbilt University School of Law, and is admitted as an Attorney and Counselor of the United States Supreme Court.

Patrick Butler is the James Madison Fellow of The Media Institute.

As President and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations, he helped secure record levels of federal and state funding to support public media.

As Senior Vice President of The Washington Post Company, Mr. Butler founded the Emmy-winning Newsweek Productions, created Washington Post Live, and advocated for passage of the Free Flow of Information Act to protect the confidentiality of journalists’ sources.

As Washington Vice President of Times Mirror, he was a founder of the Times Mirror Center for The People & The Press, which evolved into the Pew Research Center.

In government service, Mr. Butler was special assistant to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Howard H. Baker, Jr., and a speechwriter and associate editor of the White House Editorial Office for President Gerald R. Ford.

Appointed by President Reagan to the National Council on the Humanities, Mr. Butler recommended the grant that helped Ken Burns complete his landmark public television series “The Civil War.”