FCC Veteran Michael O’Rielly to Lead The Media Institute in 2026

FCC Veteran Michael O’Rielly to Lead The Media Institute in 2026

After more than forty years with The Media Institute, Richard Kaplar will step down as President and CEO on January 31. Former FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly will succeed him in leading the First-Amendment-forward communications policy organization.

O’Rielly Named Pres. & CEO, The Media Institute

• After more than four decades of service to The Media Institute, Pres. & CEO Richard T. Kaplar announced he will step down, effective Jan. 31, 2026. The Institute’s Board of Trustees has selected former FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly as his successor. Kaplar (left) joined The Media Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization specializing in communications policy and the First Amendment in 1981, and rose to become only the third Presiden…

Former FCC Commissioner to Succeed Richard Kaplar as President/CEO of Media Institute

Michael O’Rielly to take organization’s reigns at the end of January

Former Commissioner O’Rielly To Lead Media Institute

ARLINGTON, VA. — He served as a Republican-aligned FCC Commissioner until First Amendment concerns over Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act cost him his job, with President Trump effectively replacing him with Nate Simington. Now, Mike O’Rielly has resurfaced at The Media Institute as its incoming head. The D.C. think tank, which self-describes its operation as a “nonprofit, nonpartisan organization specializing in communications polic…