VIENNA, Va.—The Media Institute said Richard E. Wiley, a prominent telecom attorney and former Federal Communications Commission chair, will step down as chair of its board of trustees on Jan. 31 after serving in that role for more than 30 years.

Succeeding Wiley as chair is another well-known media attorney, Kathleen Kirby, co-chair of the Telecom, Media and Technology practice at Wiley Rein, the Washington, D.C., law firm that Richard Wiley co-founded.

The Media Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization specializing in communications policy and the First Amendment.

Wiley intends to remain active in Media Institute activities, said the group, which has named him as chairman emeritus effective Feb. 1.

“For over 30 years, it has been my great privilege to chair The Media Institute’s Board,” Wiley said. “During this time, the Institute has always supported sound communications policy and the First Amendment. I now look forward to assisting our outstanding new leadership team of Kathy Kirby and incoming President Mike O’Rielly.”

Wiley is currently chairman emeritus of Wiley Rein, a law firm with one of the nation’s largest communications practices, which he co-founded in 1983. He served as chairman, commissioner and general counsel of the Federal Communications Commission from 1970 to 1977, and became recognized as a leading force in its initial efforts to foster greater competition and less regulation in the media industry, the Institute said.

He received the Media Institute’s inaugural Freedom of Speech Award in 1992 and its Lifetime Acheivement Award in 2024.

Kirby has been a media lawyer for more than 30 years. In addition to serving as partner and TMT co-chair at Wiley Rein, she serves on the firm’s executive and management committees.

She is a past president of the Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) and has been honored with industry leadership awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) and the Broadcasters Foundation of America. She is a member of the National Freedom of Information Hall of Fame.

Kirby is regularly rated by Chambers USA, a legal data and analytics provider, as one of Washington’s “Leading Lawyers” in her field, the Institute said.

“I am honored and humbled to have the support of The Media Institute’s Board of Trustees to serve as the next Chair—the Institute’s mission remains critical at this pivotal time for media and communications,” she said. “Of course, I am especially grateful for the leadership and vision of Dick Wiley, whose lifelong commitment to thoughtful and principled media policy has shaped the Institute and inspired many, including me.” Kirby said.

Kirby is a long-time member of The Media Institute’s First Amendment Advisory Council and serves on the steering committee of its Madison Project.

“I will draw from Dick’s powerful example as I work with our incoming President and CEO, Mike O’Rielly, and our distinguished Trustees to promote understanding of and respect for free speech principles, and to bring together policymakers, regulators, industry leaders, academics, and journalists to address the emerging telecom, media, and technology issues that affect our democracy,” she said.

Said outgoing Media Institute President Richard Kaplar: “Serving with Dick Wiley has been the honor of a lifetime, and I’m extremely grateful for his outstanding leadership, good counsel, and steady support. At the same time I welcome Kathy Kirby, who has a long history with the Institute and shares its values. I’m confident that Kathy and President-elect Mike O’Rielly will lead the Institute to new levels.”

For more on the Media Institute, visit its website.

VIENNA, Va.—Richard T. Kaplar, president and CEO of The Media Institute since 1981, will step down effective Jan. 31, 2026, the organization said, to be succeeded by former FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly.

Now president of MPORiellyConsulting, O’Rielly served on the FCC as a Republican from 2013 through 2020. During his tenure, O’Rielly supported technologies such as NextGenTV and 5G wireless networks, worked to foster diversity in media ownership and to modernize media regulations that hampered media growth and innovation, the institute said.

Kaplar plans to remain with the Media Institute as a consultant.

“I’ve had the privilege of advancing The Media Institute’s mission for 44 years and especially during these last eight years as its head,” Kaplar said. “It’s been extremely satisfying, but I think it’s time for change. I fully support Mike O’Rielly and I look forward to his energy and ideas for the Institute.”

Kaplar joined The Media Institute in 1981 and served as its vice president from 1984 to 2016. He was named executive director in 2016 and kept that title when he was named as its head in January 2018. He was named president and CEO in December 2018, just the third person to fill that role.

Kaplar has been involved in the creation of every enduring program in the Media Institute’s history, the organization said, including the Communications Forum Luncheon Series that began in 1981; its annual awards banquet that started in 1982 and which he rebranded as the Free Speech America Gala in 2018; and Free Speech Week, which started in 2005.

As the institute’s president, he launched the Digital Media Center in 2020; “The Madison Project: Free Speech and Press in American Democracy” in 2023; and created the Fellows Program that includes O’Rielly, a senior fellow; Distinguished Senior Fellow and Digital Media Laureate Stuart N. Brotman; and James Madison Fellow Patrick Butler.

Kaplar has written, edited or produced more than 40 books and monographs on a variety of communications policy topics. His areas of interest include freedom of speech and the First Amendment; competition and market economics; and government regulation of telecommunications.

In addition to serving as a Media Institute senior fellow, O’Reilly is a member of its First Amendment Advisory Council and serves on the steering committee of its Madison Project.

“I am humbled by the Board’s selection of me to replace Rick Kaplar, who has so ably and honorably served The Media Institute for decades,” O’Reilly said. “The organization’s defense and promotion of the principles within the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment remain critical to our nation and political discourse and will be central to my work at The Media Institute.”

O’Rielly came to the FCC following a long Capitol Hill career, spending 20 years as a staffer in the House and the Senate. He was policy adviser in the Office of the Senate Republican Whip and prior to that was a policy analyst for the Senate Republican Policy Committee.

He began his Capitol Hill career in the House in 1994 as a staffer for Rep. Tom Bliley (R-Va.), then moved to the Senate as an aide to Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.). He then moved to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where he remained until 2003.

“With a career spanning five decades, Rick Kaplar has been an inspirational leader of the Institute,” said Richard E. Wiley, chairman of The Media Institute’s board of trustees. “We both are pleased to welcome Mike O’Rielly as our new and outstanding President and CEO.”

The Media Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization specializing in communications policy and the First Amendment. For more on the group, visit www.mediainstitute.org.

VIENNA, Va.—The Media Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization specializing in communications policy and the First Amendment, has named Kathleen Kirby of Wiley Rein LLP and Heidi Raphael of Beasley Media Group to its board of trustees.

Kirby is a partner at Washington law firm Wiley Rein, where she co-chairs the Telecom, Media and Technology practice and sits on the executive and management committees. She has worked as a media lawyer for more than 30 years, representing television and radio station groups, programming networks and others on a range of business and transactional issues, as well as on matters before the Federal Communications Commission.

Kirby is also a past president of the Federal Communications Bar Association and has received leadership awards from both the Radio Television Digital News Association and the Broadcasters Foundation of America. She is a member of the Media Institute’s First Amendment Advisory Council, serves on the steering committee of the Institute’s Madison Project and has been inducted into the National Freedom of Information Hall of Fame.

Raphael is Beasley Media Group’s chief communications officer, overseeing corporate branding, public relations and internal and external communications. Beasley is a multiplatform media company that owns and operates radio stations and digital platforms.

She has also served as co-chair of the Library of American Broadcasting Foundation for the past five years and has held leadership roles with Mentoring and Inspiring Women in Radio (MIW), including seven years as its spokesperson. Raphael has been an elected member of the NAB Radio Board and currently serves on the Florida Association of Broadcasters board of directors. She is also a past recipient of the Broadcasters Foundation of America Leadership Award.

“We are delighted to have Kathy and Heidi joining our board,” Media Institute President Richard Kaplar said. “Each is highly respected in her field, and their complementary areas of expertise will be a valuable addition to our board and to the institute.”

WASHINGTON—Broadband access, media consolidation and diversity within the broadcast workforce are on the list of priorities for FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, who outlined his plans in an address to the Media Institute this week. 

Top of the list is improving access to broadband, particularly in light of the pandemic, which closed schools, forcing students to learn from home. Declaring access to the internet a civil right, Starks noted that tens of millions of U.S. families still lack access to high speed broadband, adding that the majority of those families are headed by people of color. 

“Black people and other people of color in America are still, by a wide margin, significantly less likely to have a home broadband connection than their white counterparts,” Starks said. “An essential piece of our broadband deployment challenge is creating digital equity by bridging the digital divide and the opportunity divide.”

Starks cited recent legislation designed to address the divide including the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which created a $7.17 billion Emergency Connectivity Fund and the FCC’s vote this week to provide funding to eligible schools and libraries to purchase eligible equipment and services for use at locations other than a school or library. In addition, President Biden’s proposed $2.3 trillion infrastructure package, aka the “American Jobs Plan,” targets $100 billion dollars to connect every American to high-speed broadband. 

Starks also noted that along with promoting policies that increase access to broadband, local TV and radio are also an important source of news and information (and among the most trusted), particularly during the past year, but that their survival is being threatened by media conglomerates more interested in the bottom line than in serving their local communities. 

“Localism is one of the pillars that guides the FCC’s regulation of broadcasting, and now more than ever local TV stations must rise to the challenge of continuing to serve local audiences while at the same time navigating the evolving media landscape and managing the evolving needs of their diverse populations of consumers,” Starks told the Media Institute.

Improving diversity in media ownership and employment is also on the commissioner’s to-do list as well.

“The FCC must make sure that every aspect of this industry—from who owns the license to who makes decisions in the production room to who sits in front of the camera—reflects our diversity, he said. “Why is diversity so important? Because what we see and hear, and who we see and hear it from, impacts the way we view our world, our society and ourselves.”

Citing the recent U.S. Supreme Court “Prometheus Radio Project” case, in with the court found that the FCC’s relaxation of media ownership rules was appropriate, Starks said that while the court did agree that the rules at stake—designed to promote competition, localism and diversity—were no longer necessary to serve the agency’s public interest goals, and that the rule changes were not likely to harm minority and female ownership, “nothing in the decision disturbed our long-established ruling that the Commission can take into account how diversity will be affected by our media ownership decisions.

“That’s a big win for agency deference under the Administrative Procedure Act that should provide the necessary space to revisit our rules with diversity front and center as a consideration,” Starks said.

Starks also reiterated his support for a commission inquiry to restart the EEO data collection.

“I welcome the debate over whether there are any valid outstanding concerns—constitutional or otherwise—about how to proceed with fulfilling our statutory obligations here and ensure the promotion of diversity in broadcasting,” he said. “This inquiry is long overdue, and I hope we can move the proceeding forward in short order.”

Finally, Starks reminded the audience about another FCC inquiry on updating the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 (CVAA), which is designed to help “ensure that individuals with disabilities are able to fully utilize communications services and equipment and better access video programming.” The updates focus on closed captioning, emergency information and improved user interfaces for individuals with disabilities. 

“The Commission recently adopted rules to extend requirements for broadcasters and other video service providers to provide audio description for programming in 40 additional marketing areas over the next four years,” Starks said. “I look forward to developing a record on this important opportunity to update these regulations to ensure that everyone can fully and equally participate in the digital revolution.”

WASHINGTON—In what is likely to be one of his last major speeches as FCC chairman, Ajit Pai used a good portion of his time speaking virtually with the Media Institute on Tuesday, Dec. 15, about the continued fight over new media ownership rules.

The FCC under Pai’s time as chairman has been in a fight with the U.S. Third Circuit Court over changes to media ownership rules proposed in 2017. After multiple appeals to the court and ultimately denials, the FCC is taking its case to the Supreme Court.

One of the key arguments the Third Circuit has made in denying the FCC’s proposal is that it does not take into account the impact the rules will have on diversity ownership. Pai disagrees. He told the Media Institute that his administration has been an advocate for promoting diversity in media, and that the FCC proposal includes a broadcaster incubator program designed to encourage new and diverse voices into the industry.

Other elements of the proposal include eliminating the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership ban established in 1975 and easing the local television ownership rule, which prevented a single company from owning two stations in a market unless there were at least eight independently-owned commercial TV stations in the market.

“These decisions were obvious. They were needed. They were completely consistent with Congress’ command that we repeal or modify any such rules that are no longer in the public interest as a result of competition,” said Pai. “Yet once again, they were blocked by the same divided panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit that has commandeered media ownership policy for 17 years. Collectively, this panel’s decisions have frozen in place decades-old ownership restrictions that are absurdities in the digital age.”

The FCC’s case is scheduled to go before the Supreme Court on Jan. 19, the final day before Pai leaves the commission.

Pai also recognized the momentum building for the ATSC 3.0 standard, otherwise known as NextGen TV. Describing it as one of the FCC’s leading efforts for broadcast innovation during his time, Pai said that currently there are 21 markets in the U.S. broadcasting ATSC 3.0, with 20 TV models currently available to receive the next-generation signal, and more on the way in 2021.

Pai wants the FCC to continue to push ATSC 3.0, as well as other broadcast innovation, as it will offer “improved, free, over-the-air television broadcast services,” and Broadcast Internet features like distance learning, telehealth, advanced emergency alerting, hyperlocal news and software and cybersecurity updates to smart cars and Internet of Things devices, he says.

Other areas that Pai touched on in his speech included additional media modernization efforts he says was one of his key priorities during his time as chairman; and how the emergence of streaming and other new digital technologies is turning Must-See TV into Must-Watch Internet.

Pai also gave his thoughts on what he believes will be key issues for the FCC and the federal government in the future. This includes a re-assessment of what the media marketplace looks like now and where it’s going. This could include reforms, including a re-writing of the Cable Act, as Pai suggests. He then returned to his point on media ownership, saying that the concept of media ownership regulation needs to be reevaluated.

Pai’s full remarks to the Media Institute are available through the FCC website. 

ARLINGTON, Va.—The Media Institute has announced the creation of a new program that will focus on the key issues of today’s digital revolution, the Digital Media Center.

The goal of the Digital Media Center, per The Media Institute, is to examine issues in the digital realm to illuminate a path forward for innovators and policymakers, offering a post-pandemic perspective on key digital issues. Among the core issues expected to be focused on are privacy, cybersecurity, online advertising, content moderation and digital trust.

The Digital Media Center will officially launch on Aug. 27, coinciding with the Communications Forum virtual luncheon featuring TMI Distinguished Fellow Stuart N. Brotman, who will coordinate the program activities of the Digital Media Center.

The Media Institute has laid out three primary goals for Digital Media Center activities: to serve as a forum for bringing professionals together to exchange ideas; define issue parameters; and approach issue resolution with a presumption in favor of American democratic values.

“With the benefit of Stuart Brotman’s expertise and innovative approach, the Digital Media Center will allow The Media Institute to bring its unique perspective to the digital world while continuing to address issues affecting all media and telecom companies,” said Richard Kaplar, Institute president.

The Media Institute plans to seek financial support for the Digital Media Center from companies and organizations that have an interest in digital issues.

For more information, visit www.mediainstitute.org.  

Though their words may be alternately frustrating, verbose or bombastic, the First Amendment rights of speech and the press must be supported — although, remember (wink-wink) even government officials have the right to call out the press in case of inaccuracy or downright lunacy, said Federal Communications Commission commissioner Michael O’Rielly.

O’Rielly said the functioning of these Constitutionally protected rights (in addition to those of religion, freedom of assembly and the right to redress grievances) epitomize what it means to be an American in a speech to the Media Institute on October 24 in Arlington, Va.

“It is worthy of the strongest defenses against any enemy near or far,” he said during the group’s Free Speech America gala.

O’Rielly began by focusing on the freedom of the press, an issue that he said has generated “significant and proper attention” in recent months.

Not only does a fully functioning press provide the general public with information about our government — “an incredibly valuable function that provides a sharp and accurate picture of the government and the activities it carries out on our behalf,” he said — but it serves as a powerful antidote to any abuses of power by government officials, he added.The press serves to scrutinize governmental activities, exposes instances where employees have exceeded their authority and highlighted those who have caused harm to the public by failing to take necessary actions, he said.

“Granted, most federal departments and agencies have inspector generals to examine these abuses, but those entities rarely have the impact of a well-timed expose? by a serious journalist examining corruption or improper behavior, or a live video or picture of a governmental official trying to defend questionable practices,” he said.“The media provides a vital check on the government on behalf of the American citizenry,” he said.

O’Rielly admitted wryly that it can be difficult to always applaud the press’ record in serving this function. “I have been on the receiving end of some of those stories … and it can be emotionally and professionally trying to defend legitimate actions and decisions,” he said. “Certainly, working in the government is not for the faint of heart, especially in the current environment where certain pejorative words are spewed out so carelessly.”

Despite that, he said, “the value of such efforts by the press are immeasurable, and, even if quantifiable, would far exceed any downsides.”

We in America are fortunate, he said: “These … purposes of the press do not exist worldwide. [T]he world’s jails contain many individuals who were trying to perform these exact functions, but were not protected by a similar First Amendment.”

O’Rielly also touched on free speech as it relates to pirate radio. These stations undermine free speech with their very existence, he said, by interfering with a legal stations’ ability to reach their audiences.

[Read: Smith: Founding Fathers Got It Right On Press Freedom]

“While I am a firm supporter of removing illegitimate restrictions on broadcasters’ speech, I also believe that individuals who use the public airwaves must play by the rules, meaning that, at the most basic level, they must have an authorization.” O’Rielly shared the well-reported story of a local Colorado publication that advocated that townspeople tune into a local pirate radio station before the FCC shut it down. O’Rielly wrote a letter to the editor to share his concerns about a publication’s romanticizing illegal broadcasts.

Here’s a situation where the government official has the right to free speech as well, he said. The First Amendment does not make those who enjoy its protections immune from criticism, O’Rielly said.

“Merely criticizing a publication for having little discretion and promoting illegal behavior is not an infringement of the First Amendment, even if I am a government official,” he said. “The Colorado publication has a First Amendment right to state what it did … but such protections don’t preclude me from criticizing what I see as a misguided or wrongheaded story.”

The First Amendment should never be viewed as a shield against challenges of facts, style or substance, he said.

“While it protects the right of everyone, especially press officials, to state what they would like to state, it does not protect these same individuals from being called out for their inaccuracy, inappropriateness, or lunacy — depending on the circumstances — even if done so by government officials,” he said.