Kurt A. Wimmer

Kurt Wimmer "a distinguished media and intellectual property lawyer and a partner in Covington & Burling LLP, today [July 26, 2006] was named senior vice president and general counsel of Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI). The appointment is effective Aug. 21.

"Wimmer will become a member of the Gannett Management Committee, the company’s advisory group of top executives.

"Wimmer has been a partner of Covington & Burling since 1995, and was managing partner at the firm’s London office from 2000 to 2003. His work has dealt with content liability and newsgathering advice and litigation; television and Internet programming transactions; U.S. and international laws relating to the Internet; and public policy, including work with the Federal Communications Commission...

"Wimmer is listed in “Best Lawyers in America” in four areas: administrative law, communications law, First Amendment and media law. He is president of the Media Law Resource Center’s Defense Counsel Section. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Media Institute and is chair of the group’s First Amendment Advisory Council. His clients have included top media companies in the United States and the Ministries of Communications of Israel and Sweden. He has advised journalists and others in 18 countries in Central and Eastern Europe and in Central Asia.

"He has worked as a copy editor, photojournalist and a reporter. He received a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism; a J.D. from Syracuse University College of Law and a Master’s in Communications Policy from the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse. He is the first lawyer to receive the Joseph A. Sprague Award from the National Press Photographers Association.

"He replaces Thomas L. Chapple, who has retired."

• Advisory Council, Center on International Media Assistance
• Former Director (1999), IREX