Tom Freston
Fmr. Pres. & CEO, Viacom
Tom Freston was one of MTV's founding executives and until recently served as CEO of Viacom. Freston is responsible for the generation-defining ad campaign "I Want My MTV." In 1987 he became the CEO of MTV Networks, using his position to advance the networks' position in new markets, as well as launching several ancillary product lines and tie-ins, including "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," "The Real World," "Beavis and Butthead," "South Park" and "SpongeBob Square Pants." From 2004, Freston led Viacom, overseeing all cable network properties (MTV Networks and Showtime Networks), the motion picture businesses of Paramount Pictures, and the publishing operations of Simon & Schuster. He resigned in September 2006. Freston was educated at New York University and is currently on the Board of Trustees for Emerson College in Boston.
Ideas recorded on: 11/5/07
Freston left Connecticut at 17, and never looked back.
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Am I part of the problem, or part of the solution?
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The Gates Foundation, Freston says, would do a good job.
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More and more people, Freston says, are becoming masters of their own destinies.
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This is a transitional age, Freston says.
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Freston says there is plenty of responsibility to go around.
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How do we address this phenomenon?
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When you read the newspaper or watch the news, what issues stand out for you?
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Freston recalls the anti-Americanism of the Vietnam era.
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Be comfortable in your own skin.
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Freston rejects the Hobbesian view of mankind. It’s time to believe in our better side.
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Freston talks about the stimuli of city life.
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Everyone has their fingers on the pulse, Freston says.
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How will they differ in the next decade?
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Some will fracture, others will expand online.
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How do you define big media?
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Freston, on how technology is changing the rules of the game.
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Tom Freston describes the exciting birth of the television and radio industry in Afghanistan, as well as the physical reconstruction of parts of the country that had literally been blown […]
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MTV was about engaging and informing the youth.
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