Gene Policinski is chief operating officer of the Newseum 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 Newseum 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 began working at the Freedom Forum, the foundation that is the principal funder of the Newseum and Newseum Institute. He hosts a variety of online audio and video programs produced by the Newseum Institute, including the “Journalism/Works” podcast, and is co-author of the bi-monthly, nationally distributed commentary “Inside the First Amendment.”