The Freedom Forum was created in 1991 under the direction of Al Neuharth, former publisher of USA Today

USA Today

USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...

newspaper. Funding was provided by a foundation started by publisher Frank E. Gannett in 1935, called the Gannett Foundation. The foundation took on the name of The Freedom Forum in 1991.

The Freedom Forum describes itself as "a nonpartisan foundation dedicated to free press, free speech and free spirit for all people."

It runs the First Amendment Center and the Diversity Institute at Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...

 in Nashville, Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

. It is also the creator of the Newseum

Newseum

The Newseum is an interactive museum of news and journalism located at 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. The seven-level, museum features 15 theaters and 14 galleries. The Newseum's Berlin Wall Gallery includes the largest display of sections of the Berlin Wall outside of Germany...

, a museum dedicated to the history of news, which opened in 2008 in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

.

Each year, the Freedom Forum gives out the Al Neuharth Award for Excellence in the Media. Past winners include Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite

Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...

 (1989), Carl T. Rowan (1990), Helen Thomas

Helen Thomas

Helen Thomas is an American author and former news service reporter, member of the White House Press Corps and opinion columnist. She worked for the United Press and post-1958 successor United Press International for 57 years, first as a correspondent, and later as White House bureau manager...

 (1991), Tom Brokaw

Tom Brokaw

Thomas John "Tom" Brokaw is an American television journalist and author best known as the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News from 1982 to 2004. He is the author of The Greatest Generation and other books and the recipient of numerous awards and honors...

 (1992), Larry King

Larry King

Lawrence Harvey "Larry" King is an American television and radio host whose work has been recognized with awards including two Peabodys and ten Cable ACE Awards....

 (1993), Charles Kuralt

Charles Kuralt

Charles Kuralt was an American journalist. He was most widely known for his long career with CBS, first for his "On the Road" segments on The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, and later as the first anchor of CBS News Sunday Morning, a position he held for fifteen years.Kuralt's "On the Road"...

 of CBS (1994), Albert R. Hunt

Al Hunt

Albert R. Hunt Jr. is the executive Washington editor for Bloomberg News, a subsidiary of Bloomberg L.P. Hunt hosts the Sunday morning talk show Political Capital on Bloomberg Television, which airs on Friday night.-Personal life:...

 and Judy Woodruff

Judy Woodruff

Judy Woodruff is an American television news anchor and journalist.Woodruff is a Board Member at the IWMF .-Broadcast journalism career:...

 (1995), Robert MacNeil

Robert MacNeil

Robert Breckenridge Ware MacNeil, OC, known sometimes as Robin MacNeil, , is currently a novelist and formerly was a television news anchor and journalist who had paired with Jim Lehrer to create The MacNeil/Lehrer Report in 1975.-Early life:MacNeil was born in Montreal, the son of Margaret...

 (1996), Cokie Roberts

Cokie Roberts

Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Roberts , best known as Cokie Roberts, is an American Emmy Award-winning journalist and bestselling author. She is a contributing senior news analyst for National Public Radio as well as a regular roundtable analyst for the current This Week with Christiane...

 (1997), Tim Russert

Tim Russert

Timothy John "Tim" Russert was an American television journalist and lawyer who appeared for more than 16 years as the longest-serving moderator of NBC's Meet the Press. He was a senior vice president at NBC News, Washington bureau chief and also hosted the eponymous CNBC/MSNBC weekend interview...

 and Louis D. Boccardi

Louis Boccardi

Louis D. Boccardi was President and Chief Executive Officer of The Associated Press , the world’s largest news organization, from 1985 until his retirement in 2003...

 (1998), John Seigenthaler

John Seigenthaler

John Lawrence Seigenthaler is an American journalist, writer, and political figure. He is known as a prominent defender of First Amendment rights....

 (1999), Jim Lehrer

Jim Lehrer

James Charles "Jim" Lehrer is an American journalist and the executive editor and former news anchor for PBS NewsHour on PBS, known for his role as a frequent debate moderator during elections...

 (2001), Tom Curley

Tom Curley

Thomas "Tom" Curley is the President of the Associated Press, the world's largest news organization.-Biography:Curley was born in Easton, Pennsylvania. At age 15, he started writing for the Easton Express...

 (2002), Don Hewitt

Don Hewitt

Donald Shepard "Don" Hewitt was an American television news producer and executive, best known for creating 60 Minutes, the CBS television news magazine, in 1968, which at the time of his death, was the longest-running prime-time broadcast on American television...

 of CBS (2004), Garrison Keillor

Garrison Keillor

Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio personality. He is known as host of the Minnesota Public Radio show A Prairie Home Companion Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (born August 7, 1942) is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio...

 (2005), Bob Schieffer

Bob Schieffer

Bob Lloyd Schieffer is an American television journalist who has been with CBS News since 1969, serving 23 years as anchor on the Saturday edition of CBS Evening News from 1973 to 1996; chief Washington correspondent since 1982, moderator of the Sunday public affairs show Face the Nation since...

 of CBS (2006), John Quinn

John Quinn

John Quinn or Jack Quinn is the name of:*Jack Quinn , White House counsel, 1995–1996*Jack Quinn , Congressman from New York*Jack Quinn III, Assemblyman from Erie County, New York and son of the Congressman...

 and Ken Paulson

Ken Paulson

Ken Paulson is the former editor in chief of USA Today. His alma mater is the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri.He is the creator and writer of Freedom Sings, a musical presentation celebrating the First Amendment.-External Links:*...

 (2007), Charles Overby (2008) and Katie Couric

Katie Couric

Katherine Anne "Katie" Couric is an American journalist and author. She serves as Special Correspondent for ABC News, contributing to ABC World News, Nightline, 20/20, Good Morning America, This Week and primetime news specials...

 (2009).

, Charles L. Overby serves as Chairman and CEO of the organization. On May 31, 2011, the organization announced that James C. Duff

James C. Duff

James C. Duff is the president and CEO of the Freedom Forum, the nonpartisan foundation dedicated to the First Amendment and media issues and which runs Washington, D.C.’s Newseum, the First Amendment Center, and the Diversity Institute at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.-Education...

, the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts

Administrative Office of the United States Courts

The Administrative Office of the United States Courts is the administrative agency of the United States federal court system. It was established in 1939.The AO is the central support entity for the federal judicial branch...

, would join the organization as president and CEO.