AMC Networks president Josh Sapan and National Association
of Broadcasters president Gordon Smith will be honored at the Media Institute's
Friends & Benefactors awards dinner Oct. 22 at the Fairmont Hotel in
Washington.
Sapan is getting the Freedom of Speech award, while Smith
will receive the Horizon award for "[leading] the broadcasting industry
into a new and innovative era marked by unprecedented challenges from other
content delivery platforms."
The Horizon award recognizes "leadership in promoting
the vitality and independence of American media and communications," while
the Freedom of Speech Award recognizes someone "who has made important
contributions to the advancement and protection of free speech."
Acting FCC chairwoman Mignon Clyburn is slated
to deliver the keynote speech at the dinner, although it is unclear whether she
will still be in that post or whether nominee Tom Wheeler will have been
installed by then.
