Newton Minow, ex-FCC chief who famously proclaimed that network television was a ‘vast wasteland,’ dies at 97

Newton Minow, then-chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, appears before the House Antitrust Subcommittee which is probing newspaper competition, March 13, 1963. (Associated Press)

Newton N. Minow, who as Federal Communications Commission chief in the early 1960s famously proclaimed that network television was a “vast wasteland,” died Saturday. He was 97.

Minow, who received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, died Saturday at home, surrounded by loved ones, said his daughter, Nell Minow.