The following resolution was passed at the semi-annual meeting of the MMTC Board of Directors, held on July 15, 2015, in Washington, DC. MMTC’s Board also passed Five Principles for Civil Discourse, which MMTC pledges to follow through heightened prescreening of media and social media content. MMTC invites other organizations to implement these Five Principles in their public advocacy and dialogue as well. The Five Principles are available here.
A Public Apology to Alex Nogales, National Hispanic Media Coalition,
and the MMTC Community for Erroneous BBSJ Post
WHEREAS, on Thursday, May 7, 2015, MMTC staff posted online and distributed by email an op-ed in its Broadband and Social Justice weblog authored by Rob Atkinson that had appeared in the March 2015 issue of The Innovation Files, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation’s (ITIF) blog. The op-ed, which was about net neutrality and the digital divide, attempted to use the memory of Cesar Chavez to disparage National Hispanic Media Coalition President and former MMTC Advisory Board member Alex Nogales.
WHEREAS, the post was re-published in error, without having been subjected to the appropriate internal editorial review, the post and all links and references to it were immediately removed. However, and regrettably, recipients of the emailed version of the post were not notified of the error. Further, on Friday, May 8, 2015, MMTC’s President and CEO Kim Keenan, upon being notified of the post, immediately sent a written apology to Mr. Nogales, who served on MMTC’s Advisory Board, expressing her apology and how much MMTC values our three decades-long relationship with NHMC and with Alex personally. Shortly thereafter, and despite additional verbal apologies to Mr. Nogales and attempts by MMTC’s CEO and COO to resolve the matter with him directly, Mr. Nogales announced his resignation from the MMTC Board of Advisors. MMTC issued a press release and published a formal apology to Mr. Nogales on May 20, 2015, in our BBSJ weblog and on the MMTC website: http://broadbandandsocialjustice.org/2015/05/mmtc-on-resignation-of-advisory-board-member-alex-nogales/; http://mmtconline.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/MMTC-Press-Statement-Resignation-of-Advisory-Board-Member-Alex-Nogales.pdf. Unfortunately, however, this apology was not emailed to the subscribers of the Broadband and Social Justice newsletter. As a result of this incident, MMTC staff have now established a more rigorous internal review process for all external content, called “Principles of Engagement,” which will govern best practices for content published by MMTC and by others who sign on to the Principles.
WHEREAS, MMTC’s Board of Directors deems it in the best interest of all parties that the MMTC Board of Directors issue a public apology to Mr. Nogales, to the National Hispanic Media Coalition, and to any other members of the MMTC community who may have been offended by this post.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board of Directors hereby issues this public apology to Mr. Nogales, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, and to all concerned, directs that MMTC’s CEO send this apology to Mr. Nogales and further directs that this resolution be posted on MMTC’s website.
Submitted for adoption this 15th day of July 2015 and Adopted.
Julia L. Johnson, Chair
MMTC Board of Directors
