$100,000 Brinson Foundation Grant Supports Presidential Debate Exhibit at the new Museum of Broadcast Communications

$100,000 Brinson Foundation Grant Supports Presidential Debate Exhibit at the new Museum of Broadcast Communications

CHICAGO, June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- The Brinson Foundation today awarded $100,000 to The Museum of Broadcast Communications (MBC) to support a dynamic exhibit on the 45-year history of televised presidential debates. Tracing the relationship between politics and television, this exhibit will be part of the MBC's new facility in downtown Chicago, scheduled to be completed in the Spring of 2007.

The centerpiece of the Presidential Debates exhibit will be one of the CBS cameras used in the first televised debate between Richard Nixon and John Kennedy at WBBM/ Chicago in 1960. This grant, which is payable over two years, complements the $50,000 Brinson Foundation grant given to the MBC in 2005 for the digitization of the Museum's vast political collection.

"We are delighted to continue supporting the MBC by funding development of the Presidential Debates exhibit. The exhibit will offer an excellent opportunity to further the public's understanding of the importance of presidential debates in our nation's democratic process," said Jim Parsons, president of the Brinson Foundation. "We are pleased to assist in the preservation and creative presentation of some of the memorabilia and historic footage that highlight the role the media has played in this critical component of our nation's political heritage," he added.

"Politics and television were joined together forever with the first Kennedy-Nixon debate in Chicago," said MBC President Bruce DuMont. "We are thrilled that The Brinson Foundation has provided the leadership in creating an exhibit that will offer visitors a chance to learn of Chicago's role in political media history and re-live the many memorable moments from presidential debates spanning 1960 to 2004," DuMont added.

The four-level, 70,000-square-foot broadcast museum will include two expansive floors of interactive exhibits and innovative studio experiences. Key exhibits will focus on special subjects and eight programming genres -- Comedy, Drama, Music, News, Sports, Talk, Games, and Children.

Located on the third floor, the Presidential Debates exhibit will be part of the news and public affairs area that will include a major exhibit on the history of broadcast news, funded by NBC-Universal, and a replica of a 1920's living room that will depict America's first radio broadcast-the election results of the presidential campaign of Warren Harding and James Cox as heard on KDKA/Pittsburgh.

For 19 years, the MBC has been committed to educating the public about the profound influence of radio and television programming in shaping perspectives about the world in which we live. The Museum's first public program in 1985-- the 25th anniversary of the first Kennedy-Nixon debate -- captured the first- person accounts of this important event. Its public program on the 40th anniversary of the Kennedy-Nixon debate aired on C-SPAN in 2000. The MBC has also launched a free online resource titled The Great Debate and Beyond: The History of Televised Presidential Debates, which received over 7 million hits at http://www.museum.tv/ during the 2004 presidential election.

The Brinson Foundation, a Chicago-based philanthropic organization, supports education, scientific research and public health programs. The Foundation's mission is to support programs that engage, inform and inspire committed citizens to confront the challenges that face humanity.

The Museum of Broadcast Communications is one of only three broadcast museums in the United States. The new $21-million MBC at 360 North State Street at Kinzie will include interactive exhibit galleries, expanded archives, a media café, working radio and television studios, a gift shop and regularly scheduled public programs on historic and contemporary radio and television issues. Visit http://www.museum.tv/ .

Source: The Museum of Broadcast Communications

CONTACT: Gina Doyle, MBC, +1-312-396-0103

Web site: http://www.museum.tv/

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