Consultant, Journalism Program
Knight Foundation
Bethesda, Maryland, United States
Jon Hart, a veteran newsroom and technology transactions lawyer and media executive, is a consultant to the Journalism Program at Knight Foundation. He serves on the boards of Baltimore Public Media, CapitalBop, and The American Prospect.
From 2014 through 2020, Jon served as chief legal officer, general counsel, chief ethics officer, and corporate secretary at NPR.
Prior to joining NPR, Jon spent 28 years in private practice at Dow Lohnes (where he founded and co-chaired the Media & Information Technologies practice ) and at Cooley (where he was a partner in the Technology Transactions Group). Jon’s practice included: newsroom counselling; libel, First Amendment, and intellectual property litigation; complex technology transactions; complex multi-party ventures; content and technology licensing; and counselling on data collection and privacy, corporate governance, and the law of nonprofit institutions.
Jon was one of the founders of the Online News Association and served as ONA’s outside general counsel for 15 years, before joining NPR.
Jon taught in the Stanford Professional Publishing Courses and the successor Yale Publishing Course for 24 years. His column on law and technology, @Law, appeared on WSJ.com from 2001 through 2004. He is the author of Internet Law: A Field Guide (BNA Books, 6th ed. 2008).
Jon has been recognized by Legal 500 as one of the leading corporate counsel in the United States; by Washingtonian magazine as one of "Washington's Best Lawyers" (First Amendment and Media); by Super Lawyers (Technology Transactions); and by Best Lawyers in America (First Amendment Law, Information Technology Law, Media Law, and Litigation - First Amendment).
Before entering private practice, Jon clerked for U.S. District Judge Almeric Chrisitan and U.S. Circuit Judge Jerome Farris. He is a graduate of Middlebury College (English and music) and Stanford Law School.
ONA Legal Panel: You Might Want To Loop In Legal
Thursday, September 19, 2024
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EDT