Kenneth Tomlinson Named Chairman of Broadcasting Board of Governors
The Senate has confirmed Kenneth Y. Tomlinson as the third Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which supervises all U.S. government-supported, non-military international broadcasting. Tomlinson will succeed Marc B. Nathanson, who has served as a member of the Board since it was established in 1995 and as its Chairman since November 1998.
Tomlinson, who is a former Director of the Voice of America, has more than 35 years of journalistic experience. He began his career as a reporter for the Richmond Times-Dispatch in 1965. In 1968 he joined the Washington bureau of Reader’s Digest, then served as a correspondent in Vietnam, and eventually in Paris, where he covered events in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.
In 1982, President Ronald Reagan appointed Tomlinson Director of the Voice of America, where he served until 1984. After his tenure at VOA, Tomlinson returned to Reader’s Digest to serve as managing editor. He was subsequently named executive editor of the Digest in 1985 and editor-in-chief in 1989. He retired from Reader’s Digest in 1996.
Tomlinson is the co-author of P.O.W., a history of American prisoners of war in Vietnam. He has served as the chairman of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (1985), as a member of the U.S. Board for International Broadcasting (1986-1994), as well as on the Board of Directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (2000-present). In 1995 he was named Virginia Press Association’s Virginian of the Year, and he is a member of the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame.
He is married to Rebecca Moore Tomlinson, a former Congressional aide. They live at Springbrook Farm in Fauquier County, Virginia, and have two sons.
The Broadcasting Board of Governors is a nine-member, presidentially appointed body which supervises all U.S. government-supported international broadcasting, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and VOA, Radio Free Asia, Radio and TV Marti, and WORLDNET Television. Tomlinson will join current governors Norman J. Pattiz, Robert M. Ledbetter, Jr., Edward E. Kaufman, Cheryl Halpern, and Secretary of State Colin Powell. He will replace Tom C. Korologos, who is a charter member of the Board, serving since 1995.
For additional information, please contact Joe O’Connell at (202) 619-2538 or at pubaff@ibb.gov.