Officers from CBS Corporation and NBCUniversal are joining the board of Washington media advocacy The Media Institute. For the NBCU exec, it will be adding an item to a resume that already includes important roles at NTIA and as an FCC Commissioner. We refer to Meredith Baker. The CBS exec is John S. Orlando.
Baker exited the FCC’s second Republican seat back in June of this year to take a job with Comcast/NBCU as SVP/Government Relations. Robert McDowell has been soldiering on as the lone Republican on the Commission ever since. Baker was also at NTIA when the agency was handing out digital-to-analog converter box coupons in the run-up to the digital TV transition.
Orlando is SVP/Washington for CBS. Prior to his current position, he was with the NAB, and prior to that, he was at CBS. He has also been on the staff of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Both have been elected to The Media Institute’s Board of Trustees.
The succinct version of the group’s mission is this: “The Media Institute is a nonprofit research foundation specializing in communications policy issues. The Institute exists to foster three goals: freedom of speech, a competitive media and communications industry, and excellence in journalism.”
