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A Message About Charles Benton
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
The United Church of Christ’s Office of Communication Inc. will honor Charles Benton, chairman of the board of the Benton Foundation, at the 30th Annual Everett C. Parker Ethics in Telecommunications Lecture and Breakfast on September 25, 2012. Charles will receive the Everett C. Parker Award in recognition of his many years of leadership and support for promoting the public interest in traditional and digital media.
For the past three decades, Charles Benton has served as chairman of the foundation that bears his family’s name, leading its evolution to become an organization focused on articulating a public interest vision for the digital age and recognizing the value of communications in addressing social problems. In the 1960s, Benton became involved with the National Citizens Committee for Broadcasting (NCCB), one of the first organizations to build on Everett Parker’s work as a leader of the United Church of Christ. In 1973, under Benton’s chairmanship, the NCCB board hired retiring Federal Communications Commissioner Nicholas Johnson as executive director to carry on the fight to make broadcasters more responsive to community needs, following OC Inc.’s legal victory establishing the public’s right to participate in the broadcast licensing process.
- In 1978, President Carter appointed Benton chairman of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science and in 1979 Carter appointed him chairman of the first White House Conference on Library and Information Services. In 1997, President Clinton appointed Benton to the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters. In 2012 President Obama nominated him to the board of the Institute for Museum and Library Services.
Benton has not only been a leader in the policy arena, but also a leader within the philanthropic community, particularly in championing the importance of supporting media to help achieve philanthropic goals. Through Benton’s leadership, his foundation has provided a progressive voice in helping to shape the National Broadband Plan and working on the transition of the Universal Service Fund from analog telephone services to digital broadband. Through his work in government, business and the nonprofit sector, Benton has demonstrated a long-term, steadfast commitment to the values of access, diversity and equity that also guided Everett Parker’s work.
Charles Benton, chairman of the board of the Benton Foundation,
As he receives the Everett C. Parker Award
in recognition of his many years of leadership and support for promoting
the public interest in traditional and digital media.
Featured speaker
The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr.
Who will speak about media justice and communications rights, as we celebrate the 100th year of Dr. Parker's birth at the
30th Annual Everett C. Parker Lecture
8 a.m., Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Held at the First Congregational United Church of Christ,
945 G Street NW, Washington, DC
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Sponsored by the United Church of Christ's media justice and communications rights ministry--working for more than 50 years to bring diversity, accountability and access to media and telecommunications.
Corporate and nonprofit sponsorships available, please enquire.
- Thank you!
- Cecilia Garcia
- P.S. If you like to stay up to date and in the know concerning media related issues, be sure to subscribe to my Foundation's weekly or daily newsletter, create an account now: http://benton.org/newsletter/subscriptions.