NBC Nightly News anchor and managing editor Lester Holt and iconic noncom TV documentary producer Ken Burns will be honored at the Media Institute's 'Free Speech America' Gala. The virtual event will be Wednesday, Oct. 19.

Holt will receive the Freedom of Speech Award, while Burns the American Horizon Award.

Holt's award is for advancing the First Amendment, which is essentially the institute's charter, while the Horizon award is for "leadership in promoting the vitality and independence of American media and communications."

Holt has spent four decades anchoring and reporting the news here and abroad, while Burns has received 16 Emmy awards for his PBS documentaries, most prominently his Civil War documentary series.

Providing remarks for the evening will be FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington. Master of ceremonies will be Media Institute board chair Dick Wiley, former chairman of the FCC and the Wiley in the iconic media law firm of the same name.

Former FCC commissioner Michael O'Rielly is joining The Media Institute as a senior fellow starting April 1.

He will also be a member of the institute's First Amendment Advisory Council. The second post is particularly appropriate since O'Rielly's defense of the First Amendment, in a speech to the Institute, arguably cost him his job on the commission.

Also Read: The O'Rielly Factor

O'Rielly was re-nominated by President Trump for an extended (five-year) hitch but that nomination was withdrawn after a speech to The Media Institute in which O'Rielly questioned the President's efforts to regulate speech on social media platforms.

Also Read: O'Rielly Returns to Hill to Talk Broadband

In that speech, O'Rielly talked about ‘purveyors of First Amendment gibberish … demeaning the values of the Constitution.’ He later told Multichannel News that was not meant to target any one person or group, but instead it was about "highlighting the importance of the First Amendment, which is paramount to me, and how it can’t be ignored whether other statutory provisions come or go."

O’Rielly is already a visiting fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center for the Economics of the Internet and has hung out his own consulting shingle, MPORielly Consulting, LLC.

“Michael O’Rielly shares the same values we hold dear: sound communications policy, a competitive media industry, and a strong First Amendment,” said Institute president Richard Kaplar in a statement.

"Hopefully, my record shows that I welcome the opportunity, even when not easy or popular, to push back against anyone seeking to denigrate, malign, or infringe upon our cherished rights preserved by the U.S. Constitution," said O'Rielly.

David Cohen, senior EVP of Comcast, stood up for the First Amendment Wednesday in a virtual acceptance speech, but said that while that protection extended to peaceful protest, it did not include "the unlawful destruction of property in the guise of protest."

Cohen was receiving the institute's American Horizon Award for leading Comcast's Internet Essentials program, which provides low-cost broadband to low-income homes.

Cohen said that free speech was under assault by multiple forces, including "by foreign governments distorting the 'truth' through social media and by wildly disparate views of the 'news' by varying outlets."

In addition, he said the country is being buffeted by two viruses--COVID-19 and racial inequality. The latter, he said, has opened the door to a difficult but necessary national conversation.

He said much of that conversation has been conducted via public protest, with most of that in keeping with the First Amendment's protection of the right to peaceably assemble." But the "peacefully" in that guarantee was clearly a key word for Cohen.

"[W]hat we’ve seen in some cities is anathema to free speech. It reminds me of the classic law school hypothetical about yelling 'fire' in a crowded movie theater," he said. "That’s not protected speech. Nor is the unlawful destruction of property in the guise of protest."

Cohen said the protests have brought into sharp focus both racial inequality and the need for preserving the First Amendment guarantee of the right to exercise freedom of speech.

He said Comcast is a First Amendment company that strives to give that voice to everyone. He said that was reflected in the way it covers the news as well as in its promotion of diversity.

"[T]he journalists in our news division are the front-line players in the Free Speech arena. They practice and preserve the principle of free speech 24 hours a day. And every day, they navigate a minefield of sensitivities to offer a balanced and accurate picture," he said.

Cohen argued that free speech is of little good if people don't have access to that multiplicity of voices. He said millions still lack broadband access, an "unfairness and pain of this has been laid bare by the Coronavirus pandemic."

"Contending with life in America without benefit of the Internet is guaranteed marginalization," he said.

He said that was what was driving the Internet Essentials program. "We were frankly outraged by the unfairness of disparate access to the Internet in America. And we felt a responsibility to take action."

The Media Institute has created a new program to focus on digital issues, the Digital Media Center (DMC).

The institute will continue to deal with issues affecting all media and telecom companies while the center will drill down on digital issues and seek funding from tech companies and others.

DMC activities will be overseen by institute senior fellow Stuart Brotman, author of "Privacy’s Perfect Storm: Digital Policy for Post-Pandemic Times."

“The Digital Media Center is an outgrowth of today’s rapidly changing media landscape, where digital technology and policy occupy ever-increasing amounts of ground,” said Institute president Richard Kaplar. 

The goal will be to bring stakeholders together to talk about how to resolve thorny digital issues--cybersecurity, privacy, online advertising and content moderation and more, with an eye toward finding consensus and an emphasis on democratic values of "capitalism and free markets, freedom of expression, and the rule of law." 

The DMC will officially launch Aug. 27 at the institute's monthly luncheon, where Brotman will be the speaker.

Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace says he is as shocked and troubled by President Donald Trump's attacks on the news media as everyone else, but he warned White House reporters against responding to the President's invective in kind.

That came in a speech Wednesday (Oct. 24) at the Media Institute's Free Speech America Gala in Washington. Wallace was accepting the Institute's Freedom of Speech Award.

"Will we look back on our coverage with pride—or regret?," he asked. "Will we say we played our role as impartial observers—or as players who crossed the line into advocacy? During a time of divisive, tribal politics—did we fall into our own tribal news coverage?"

"Having grown up in journalism—having spent half a century as a reporter—you can imagine how I felt when I saw that Trump tweet on February 17th of last year," said Wallace. “The fake news media (failing NY Times, NBC News, ABC, CBS, CNN) is not my enemy. "It is the enemy of the American people.” To say I never imagined the President of the United States would say that about a free, vigorous, adversarial press is a big understatement."

Wallace associated himself with the response to that tweet by retired Admiral Bill McRaven, former head of the U.S. Special Forces, who headed up the missions that captured Saddam Hussein and killed Osama bin Laden. "It turns out McRaven graduated from the University of Texas with a degree in journalism," Wallace said. "And here’s what he said: 'Both the President and I swore an oath to the Constitution.  And the First Amendment of that Constitution is freedom of the press. When the President says the media is the enemy of the people, to me that undermines the Constitution. So I do think it is a tremendous threat to our democracy.'"

But he said more alarming still was that the public had bought into that presidential narrative. "A Gallup Poll in June on attitudes towards the media—found 69 percent said their trust had decreased," he said. "An Axios poll found 70 percent of Americans now agree—“traditional major news sources report news—they know to be fake, false, or purposely misleading.”

Wallace said that journalists can't stop the the President's tweeting, particularly when that line of attack seems to be working so well. But the reaction of too many journalists has been to take the "exactly wrong approach" of responding to the President's bashing with attacks of their own.

He said he is fine with fact checking, "calling balls and strikes. That's our job." But he said he saw news reports coming out of the White House, both TV and print, that are more opinion than fact. "When we fall into that trap, we are playing the President's game."

But Wallace also suggested this too shall pass. "Let’s remember: Donald Trump may be larger than life. But all of us have seen Presidents come and go. They capture the spotlight—grab the nation’s attention—and then pass from the scene. And we need to think where our business will be when Mr. Trump is no longer in the White House."

Wallace said the stakes are, referring to the final column of murdered Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which talked about repression of free speech and press in much of the Arab world. “Arabs living in those countries are either uninformed or misinformed," Wallace said, quoting from the column. "They are unable to adequately address, much less publicly discuss, matters that affect the region and their day-to-day lives. A state-run narrative dominates the public psyche, and while many do not believe it, a large majority of the population falls victim to this false narrative.”

Wallace said he could not see that happening in the U.S. anytime soon, but said "when 70% of our fellow Americans believe major news outlets “report stories they know to be fake”—It is past time to be vigilant."

The Media Institute is a nonprofit First Amendment think tank supported by media outlets.

The Trump administration's judicial appointments are the "flipside" of its deregulatory policymaking, and both factors are part of its effort "to get back to fundamentals," Donald F. McGahn, White House counsel and assistant to the president, explained at the Media Institute's monthly luncheon on Thursday (July 12).

"We're trying to establish core regulatory and budget" systems that have "often been ignored in rulemakings," he said, emphasizing that federal regulatory agencies have become a fourth branch of government, often building rules based on their previous rulemaking that ignore fundamental statutes.

"When agencies promulgate new rules, they must justify it on a statutory basis," he insisted.

McGahn rushed through his informal remarks, explaining that he had taken a break from the day's main task of escorting Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh around Capitol Hill to meet senators. He said that he could not refuse an invitation from Media Institute chair and Washington legal legend Richard Wiley to speak at the luncheon, but neither could he spend time taking questions from the audience of media executives.

Related: Fix the Court Presses for Kavanaugh Documents

He added that the speech was only his third such presentation since he joined the White House staff at the beginning of the Trump Administration. 

McGahn stressed that his remarks wouldn't deal with communications-related agencies, such as the FCC or FTC. Rather, he sought to explain the administration's role in the "sea change going on" at agencies and the courts.

Related: Pai, Rosenworcel Spar Over Changes to FCC's Formal Complaint Process

He characterized the effort as a process that will eliminate the ways in which agencies now both legislate and adjudicate policies. In particular, he focused on the "unfortunate" ways that agencies perpetuate policies by building on their previous decision "rather than on what Congress adopted."

Although he did not offer specific examples of such actions, McGahn stressed that "statutory activity is vital" and that policy-making should adhere to the Administrative Procedures Act, rather than a series of "dear colleague" letters and sub-procedures that skirt basic legislative practices.

"It is essential for agencies to reduce the regulatory burden," McGahn said. "Over-regulation can get in the way of economic growth."

Shifting gears slightly, McGahn sheepishly laughed that one part of this process would not sit well with his friends at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank.

"Let's be honest: You need some degree of regulation," he said, recognizing a baseline but quickly adding that regulators "should make sure" that their policies make sense in the marketplace.

That where the role of federal judges will become more important to assure that agencies adhere to the statutory limits of their actions, McGahn said. Noting that, typically, "agencies look inward to the usual interest groups," he urged that regulators "must look beyond the Beltway" when they adopt policies.

McGahn promised that the administration's ongoing judicial selection process would focus on recruiting individuals who have "administrative experience," noting that the courts have "never been clear enough" on how they address the Chevron rule, which gives deference to "expert agencies" in setting regulatory policies.

"That's an area that's evolving," he  said.  

Cyber-attacks on "critical infrastructure" and theft or espionage involving commercial intellectual property remain the top concerns of the global cybersecurity community, Robert L. Strayer, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Cyber and International Communications and Information Policy at the U.S. Department of State said Thursday (April 19).

In remarks at the Media Institute's monthly luncheon in Washington, Strayer emphasized, "No business is unaffected by cybertheft" and warned that "we will continue to see threats to the digital ecosystem."   

Strayer declined, when asked by MCN, to specify media or telecom operators, including cable TV, as part of the "critical infrastructure." But he acknowledged that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies are constantly examining ways to foil "bad actors" who could disrupt or hack into the operations of American companies.

He said U.S. and global partners "have to think of all the misuses" of cyber systems. He emphasized the growing role of the digital economy and noted that international groups such as the G7 and G20 nations "are increasingly looking at technology issues" such as blockchain, that are affecting traditional global systems.

"As we look around the world, we want to assure an open flow of data," Strayer said, but at the same time "it is absolutely critical to preserve a decentralized model." He emphasized that many countries want to regulate the internet, but that U.S. policy will continue to "push back against that." 

Strayer acknowledged that in the U .S. and most democracies, the digital infrastructure is in the hands of the private sector.

"We should not expect companies to operate in cyberspace any differently" than they do in conventional environments, Strayer said, but he warned that the task - including public/private collaboration - may be very challenging.

New cybersecurity standards will be "voluntary," he said, adding that "industry is driving the solution." He cited the need "to achieve maximum economic value" as companies battle cyberattacks.

Strayer cited Europe's "General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)" that goes into effect on May 25, restricting many ecommerce and digital media practices in an effort to assure consumer privacy. He did not offer an opinion about whether such restraints may eventually emerge in the U.S., especially amid the current furor over activities at Facebook, Google and other companies that collect personal data.

He focused, instead, on ways that federal enforcement agencies are developing systems "to improve our defenses" and create a "cyber-posture" to fight cybercrimes. He said that systems are now "so interconnected that these threats can race around the world" almost instantly.

To battle such scourges, Strayer explained that the State Department and other U.S. agencies have about 150 "digital economy officers" at embassies and other locations worldwide to identify potential cybercrimes and to development enforcement tactics, often in collaboration with host countries.

Strayer also cited forecasts that estimate about 200,000 people will be needed to handle America's cybersecurity requirements in the coming years - a significant job creation stimulant.