Nicholas Johnson was born and raised in Iowa, and received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Texas, Austin. He has been involved with media from many angles: As a writer (books; magazines; nationally syndicated column; blog), performer (NPR reporter and commentaries; host, PBS "New Tech Times;" public lecturer; guest, numerous TV and radio shows), regulator (FCC commissioner), media critic/citizen activist (chair, National Citizens Committee for Broadcasting); publisher (access magazine), academic/educator (Iowa law professor; communications law, media law, cyberlaw); politician (using media, from presidential campaigns to local school board). He is also a lawyer, former Supreme Court clerk (Justice Hugo Black), three-time presidential appointee, former co-director of a public health policy institute, and was included in The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law as one of 700 individuals described by the publisher as "leading figures in the history of American law, from the colonial era to the present day." Show less «