CEO Tied to For-Profit Prison

[RodISHI]

It is hard to straddle the fence and not be a hypocrite.

January 2010

Freedom Forum CEO Tied to For-Profit Prisons
An advocate for--and against--freedom of information

By Beau Hodai

Charles OverbyCharles Overby has a foot planted firmly in two very different worlds. In one, he is a champion of the free press. In the other, he is part of a group at the helm of a corporation that has worked hard to limit freedom of information and the ability of the press to inform the public.

In one world, Overby is chief executive officer of the Freedom Forum, a foundation created by former USA Today publisher Al Neuharth, and its Newseum—located on Pennsylvania Avenue, blocks from the Smithsonian and the Capitol, and which literally has the First Amendment etched onto its 75-foot marble edifice. He is a Pulitzer Prize–winning editor and reporter, former vice president of news and communications for Gannett, the largest U.S. newspaper chain, and former management committee member of both Gannett and its flagship paper USA Today. cont...