As a Latina telecommunications attorney, I know a thing or two about operating in different languages. I speak English, Spanish, legalese and telecom jargon, all with varying degrees of proficiency. And I must say, telecom jargon has been the most difficult to learn – just as I think I have it down, technology evolves and I have a whole new list of vocabulary words and acronyms to study.

For instance, AT&T recently petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to “launch a proceeding concerning the TDM-to-IP transition.” A what concerning the what-to-what what?!? If you did not understand more than half of those words and acronyms, you are not alone.  More ...

Today marks the first day of Women’s History Month and as a new mother I feel more inclined than ever to celebrate the important role that women have played and continue to play in shaping this country. Of course many of these amazing women  never were and likely never will be in the public eye and will be celebrated only by those that surround them in their personal and professional lives. Others still, have contributed by serving this country in elected or appointed government positions, and those are the ladies that I will focus on today.  More ...

The National Hispanic Media Coalition’s (NHMC) Board of Directors has approved the organization’s 2013 Policy Priorities. NHMC’s ambitious agenda includes the following goals:
Responsible and Inclusive Media

Latinos now comprise over 16% of the U.S. population and represent the fastest growing voting bloc. Yet the media is way behind in its inclusion of and rhetoric towards Latinos. NHMC will push for policies and industry practices to infuse the media industry with more Latino owners, employees and expert commentators. NHMC will educate advertisers and media companies about the need for responsible portrayals of Latinos, and it will empower concerned Latinos to stand up for responsible media in their local communities.  More ...

This semester NHMC is pleased to be hosting two outstanding lawyers-in-training as part of its legal internship program. You have already met Liz Ruiz, and today I write to introduce you to Brenda Montes. Brenda recently graduated from the UCLA School of Law. In August she completed the California bar exam and she is now awaiting her results.  More ...

Consistent with our mission to increase the number of Latinos employed in all facets of the media industry, NHMC warmly welcomes Elizabeth Ruiz to the team as part of our Fall 2011 legal internship program. NHMC’s legal internship program celebrated its first anniversary this summer. Its purpose is twofold: to bolster NHMC’s legal research capacity and, more importantly, to prepare aspiring Latino lawyers to practice media and telecommunications policy.

Elizabeth comes to NHMC with a very impressive background. She recently started her final year at the University of North Carolina School of Law. She graduated with honors from the University of South Carolina in 2006, and then spent the subsequent three years working as a news assistant and staff writer at The State newspaper in Columbia, SC. Aside from her journalism background, Elizabeth brings to NHMC her valuable experiences interning for FCC Commissioner Clyburn and as a Google Policy Fellow at Media Access Project.  More ...

For those of us who aren’t primarily focused on telecommunications policy – and even for those of us who are – the web of regulatory review of the AT&T/T-Mobile deal can be confusing. Here is my part-lawyer/part-human explanation of what just went down, and what’s next.

For starters, two government agencies are tasked with reviewing this transaction: the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The DOJ is required to enforce antitrust laws. The FCC’s review is broader. Although it focuses on factors that the DOJ considers, such as bolstering competition, it also must examine whether the transaction is in the public interest.  More ...

AT&T/T-Mobile Transaction – NHMC heard on “Radio Bilingue” and seen in “Roll Call”

By: Jessica J. Gonzalez, VP of Policy & Legal Affairs

NHMC has been hard at work over this past week to educate decision-makers and the public alike about the harmful effects of the AT&T/T-Mobile merger.

Last week, NHMC’s Executive VP, Inez Gonzalez, spoke at a public hearing in Culver City before the California Public Utilities Commission.  More ...

By: Jessica J. Gonzalez, Vice President, Policy & Legal Affairs

In June 2011, Nilda Muhr joined the NHMC team as our new Programs and Outreach Coordinator. She hails from Orange County Head Start Inc. where she was a Family Advocate working to educate families on becoming self-sufficient and improving the educational outcomes of their children.  More ...

By: Jessica J. Gonzalez, Vice President, Policy & Legal Affairs

If you are Latino, and you subscribe to T-Mobile cell phone service, you are in the norm. Nearly 25% of T-Mobile’s 34 million customers are Latino. Why are we such big fans of T-Mob? Probably because it is more affordable than all of the other national cell phone service providers. Or maybe because it has flexible plans that suit our diverse needs. Or perhaps because it has good customer service. For some time now T-Mob has been a maverick in the cellular market, inspiring a competitive spirit that keeps all of our phone bills lower than they would be without its presence, whether we connect through T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, Cricket, Metro PCS, or some other provider.  More ...

The Importance of Text Messaging in the Latino Community

By: Jessica J. González, Vice President, Policy & Legal Affairs

I know it makes me sound old-fashioned, but when text messages first became popular I did not care for them. At the time I was teaching at a high school in the Los Angeles area, and I was constantly competing with text messages for my students’ attention. At the same time, it seemed that many of my friends started to prefer having entire conversations in consecutive one or two sentence text messages as opposed to just dialing me directly. This annoyed me to no end.  More ...

“The Geography of Hate” Is A Must-Read

By: Jessica J. Gonzalez, Vice President, Policy & Legal Affairs

We’ve been really busy here at NHMC over the past couple of months, between taking on “Jose Luis Sin Censura,” preparing for our annual writer’s training program and examining the AT&T-T-Mobile merger, amongst other things. Since mid-May I have been saving a fascinating article from “The Atlantic” in my e-mail inbox, and today I am pleased to finally share it.  More ...

United States Is An Outlier In Its Tolerance Of Hate and Racism – But Why?

By: Jessica J. González, Vice President, Policy & Legal Affairs

Hot off the presses, the University of Pennsylvania’s Spring 2011 Edition of its Journal of International Law features an article from Professor Tanya Katerí Hernández. The article goes beyond traditional comparisons of hate speech laws in Europe and the US, incorporating the Latin America perspective (it is aptly titled, “Hate Speech and The Language of Racism in Latin America: A Lens for Reconsidering Global Hate Speech Restrictions and Legislation Models”).  More ...

By: Jessica J. Gonzalez

On Friday Google announced its 2011 class of Policy Fellows. For the past four years, the Google Policy Fellowship program has provided stipends to students to work on internet and technology issues at non-profit organizations for ten weeks during the summer. For the second consecutive summer, NHMC is proud to be one of sixteen host organizations. Last year we hosted an outstanding student from Santa Clara Law School, Monica Guzman. This year, NHMC welcomes Fabiola Rivas to the team, who was one of sixteen students chosen from a pool of over 900 candidates.  More ...

One morning last month, I rode the train to New York City to attend the
Ford Foundation’s “Wired For Change” summit.  Aside from the early morning
trek, the conference was a great delight.  I enjoyed a number of excellent
panels and presentations about the role of technology in our lives and why
it is critical that we fight for fair technology and telecommunications
policy.  Speakers ranged from surprise guest, President Bill Clinton, to
“Daily Show” personality, John Hodgman, to inventor of the world wide web,
Tim Berners-Lee, to NAACP President, Ben Jealous.  I’ve embedded a video
of some of the highlights below.  To check out more videos from the
conference, click here.  More ...

The Latest Shameful Attack– State Representative Suggests Shooting Immigrants Like “Feral Hogs”

By: Jessica J. González

A couple of months ago we experienced a “kumbaya” moment after the heinous shooting spree in Tucson, Arizona, whereby Americans from all walks of life seemed to come together and agree that we need a more civil discourse in this country.  Indeed, former Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush joined together to chair the University of Arizona’s new, bi-partisan, National Institute for Civil Discourse.  More ...