Resource Database

John Lawson

Chief Executive Officer and President, Association of Public Television Stations

Description

John Lawson is the president and CEO of the Association of Public Television Stations, which is U.S. public television’s national advocacy organization based in Washington, DC. Under Lawson’s leadership, APTS has persuaded Congress to not only maintain, but increase federal funding for public television. This included the first funding specifically targeted for the digital conversion of stations, as well as funding for the next generation PBS satellite interconnection system and the production of digital education content. At the same time, Lawson has successfully defended the editorial independence and First Amendment rights of public broadcasters, producers and journalists. APTS also obtained from Congress favorable language for public television in higher education, vocational education, DTV transition and rural development legislation.  In a major breakthrough, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is funding APTS to pioneer the “dual use” of public television’s transmission infrastructure as the bookstore of a new Digital Emergency Alert System for the nation. To ensure distribution of public television’s new digital content, Lawson negotiated the most extensive agreement in the history of the television broadcasting industry for the carriage of multiple digital programming streams on American cable systems. The agreement and the association’s achievement in preserving funding were recognized in case studies of successful advocacy by the National Journal’s Policy Council in 2006.  Before becoming CEO of APTS in 2001, Lawson founded and managed Convergence Services, Inc., a consulting and lobbying firm that focused on educational technology. In the late 1980’s, Lawson served as director of public information at the South Carolina ETV Network, where he won national awards for promotion and programming. Lawson currently serves on the FCC’s Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory Committee.  He also was appointed to the FCC’s Media Security and Reliability Council and served on the board of the National Coalition for Technology in Education and Training. Lawson holds BA and MA degrees in International Studies from the University of South Carolina and received the Distinguished Alumnus Achievement Award in 2006 from the university’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Topic(s): Educational Content

User Type(s): Academic, Educator, Journalist, Policymaker, Producer

Address

666 Eleventh Street NW
Suite 1100
Washington , District Of Columbia 20001

Contact Information

Phone(s): 202-654-4200
E-mail(s): .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
URL(s): http://www.apts.org

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