Gene Policinski is president and chief operating officer of the Freedom Forum Institute, which includes the Religious Freedom Center, the First Amendment Center, and NewseumED. One of the founding editors of USA Today, he oversees all programs of the Freedom Forum Institute and also is a longtime proponent of diversity in journalism as an essential element of a free press. A veteran multimedia journalist, he also writes, lectures and is interviewed regularly on First Amendment issues. In 1996, he joined the Freedom Forum, the foundation that is the principal funder of the Newseum and Freedom Forum Institute. He hosts or co-hosts a variety of online audio and video programs produced by the Freedom Forum Institute, including “The First Five” podcast, and is co-author of the nationally distributed commentary “Inside the First Amendment.”