The Freedom Forum is the creator of the Newseum in Washington, D.C., which it sold to

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

in 2019. It is a nonpartisan 501 (c)(3) foundation that advances First Amendment freedoms through initiatives that include the Power Shift Project, the annual Al Neuharth Free Spirit and Journalism Conference, the Chips Quinn Scholars, the Al Neuharth Award for Excellence in the Media, the Free Expression Awards, the Journalists Memorial and Today’s Front Pages. The Freedom Forum was founded in 1991 when the

Gannett Foundation The Freedom Forum is the creator of the Newseum in Washington, D.C., which it sold to Johns Hopkins University in 2019. It is a nonpartisan 501 (c)(3) foundation that advances First Amendment freedoms through initiatives that include the Power Shif ...

, started by publisher Frank E. Gannett as a

charitable foundation A foundation (also a charitable foundation) is a category of nonprofit organization or charitable trust that typically provides funding and support for other charitable organizations through grants, but may also engage directly in charitable ac ...

to aid communities where his company had newspapers, sold its name and assets back to Gannett Company for $670 million. Retired Gannett chairman and ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' newspaper founder Al Neuharth took the money and the shell of the foundation and formed the Freedom Forum. Its mission was to foster "free press, free speech and free spirit." Neuharth's daughter, Jan A. Neuharth, is

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

and chair of the Freedom Forum. The Freedom Forum's CEO and chairman from 1989 to 2011 was Charles Overby, a former journalist and editor. From 2001 to 2011, he concurrently served as CEO of the Freedom Forum and director of the board of private prison company

CoreCivic CoreCivic, formerly the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), is a company that owns and manages private prisons and detention centers and operates others on a concession basis. Co-founded in 1983 in Nashville, Tennessee by Thomas W. Beasl ...

, formerly the Corrections Corporation of America. Under Overby, the Freedom Forum donated $5 million to establish the Overby Center at Ole Miss. The financial losses of the Freedom Forum and Newseum led to criticism of high salaries and some unusual proposals. In 2021, the Freedom Forum faced criticism for awarding a "Free Expression" award to the CEO of

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

, Susan Wojcicki. YouTube is part of the Freedom Forum "Corporate Membership Program".

References

1991 establishments in the United States Organizations established in 1991 {{US-org-stub