Nicholas Johnson
Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission
In office
July 1, 1966 – December 5, 1973
PresidentLyndon B. Johnson
Richard Nixon
Personal details
Born (1934-09-23) September 23, 1934
Iowa City, Iowa, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of Texas at Austin
OccupationLawyer

Nicholas Johnson (born September 23, 1934) is an American academic and lawyer. He wrote How to Talk Back to Your Television Set and was a Federal Communications Commission commissioner from 1966 to 1973. He is retired from teaching at the University of Iowa College of Law,[1] with an emphasis on communications and Internet law, and since 2006 has posted over 1000 blog essays.

Life

Johnson was born in Iowa City in 1934 and raised in Iowa,[2] to which he returned in 1980. His father was the noted psychologist and speech scientist, Wendell Johnson, lead researcher of the controversial Monster Study. He received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Texas at Austin, served as law clerk to U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit, Judge John R. Brown and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo L. Black. He began his law teaching career at the University of California, Berkeley, practiced with Covington & Burling, Washington, and held three presidential appointments, including Administrator, U.S. Maritime Administration, and F.C.C. commissioner. Following the F.C.C. service he chaired the National Citizens Committee for Broadcasting in Washington, and ran for Congress from Iowa's Third Congressional District.

In 1972 Canadian filmmaker Red Burns, who'd served on the National Film Board of Canada (NFB)'s Challenge for Change and George C. Stoney, who'd likewise served a guest role, worked with Johnson to make the FCC Public-access television cable TV requirements. In the book "How to Talk Back to Your Television Set," Johnson discusses prototype community media. He appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone #79, April 1, 1971.

He hosted the PBS program, "New Tech Times," wrote a nationally syndicated newspaper column, "Communications Watch," and lectured through the Leigh Lecture Bureau during the early 1980s. He became involved in online education in the mid-1980s, when he chaired the Virtual Classroom Project, taught for the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute and Connected Education. He has served as co-director of the University of Iowa's public health organization, the Institute for Health, Behavior and Environmental Policy, as commissioner with the Iowa City Broadband and Telecommunications Commission, and school board member of the Iowa City Community School District.

He has traveled and lectured in many countries, and served on numerous boards and advisory boards, such as Common Cause (national board), World Academy of Art and Science (executive board), Volunteers in Technical Assistance (board), and Project Censored (editorial judge).

In 2009 he was included in The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law as one of 700 individuals described by the publisher as "leading figures in the history of American law, from the colonial era to the present day."

Works

In addition to How to Talk Back to Your Television Set (Little-Brown; Bantam, 1970) and Test Pattern for Living (Bantam, 1972), he is the author of Your Second Priority: A Former FCC Commissioner Speaks Out (2008), Are We There Yet: Reflections on Politics in America (2008), What Do You Mean and How Do You Know? An Antidote for the Language That Does Our Thinking for Us (2009), Virtualosity: Eight Students in Search of Cyberlaw (2009), "Predicting Our Future Cyberlife" (2012), "From D.C. to Iowa: 2012 (2012), and new editions of "How to Talk Back to Your Television Set" (2013) and "Test Pattern for Living" (2013).[3][4]

See also

Sources

For general sources and verification see, e.g.: Who's Who in America (past and current editions); Roger K. Newman, ed., The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law (New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 2009); University of Iowa College of Law Faculty listing;[1] "Articles About Nicholas Johnson"[5] (including Rolling Stone cover story, Howard Junker, "The Greening of Nicholas Johnson," Rolling Stone, April 1, 1971, pp. 32–39); and New York Times archives (search on "Nicholas Johnson," especially, e.g., "From: 01-01-1963 To: 12-31-1980").[6] See also "Nicholas Johnson Bibliography (1952–1996)";[7] "Nicholas Johnson Recent Publications (1996–2013)";[8] "Nicholas Johnson Federal Communications Commission Opinions".[9]

References

  1. 1 2 "Nicholas Johnson Retired Adjunct Faculty Member". College of Law – The University of Iowa. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  2. ↑ Archived August 3, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ "Nicholas Johnson: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
  4. ↑ "Nicholas Johnson | Barnes & Noble". Barnesandnoble.com. 2014-01-30. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
  5. ↑ Nicholas Johnson. "Selected Writing About Nicholas Johnson". Nicholasjohnson.org. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
  6. ↑ "Nicholas Johnson, an advocate of broadcast reforms during his seven years on the Federal Communications Commission..." Query.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
  7. ↑ Nicholas Johnson. "Nicholas Johnson Bibliography, 1949–1995". Nicholasjohnson.org. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
  8. ↑ Nicholas Johnson. "Nicholas Johnson, Recent Publications". Nicholasjohnson.org. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
  9. ↑ Nicholas Johnson. "Nicholas Johnson, FCC Opinions". Uiowa.edu. Archived from the original on 2011-02-04. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
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