NHMC Receives Grant to Offer Media Training to Local Latino Experts
PASADENA-(NHMC - Jan. 18, 2012)-The National Hispanic Media Coalition, NHMC, will increase its efforts to promote accurate Latino perspectives in local television markets thanks to a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation headquartered in Battle Creek, Mich. This grant will allow NHMC to identify 10 experts in each of the top 12 television markets who are qualified to speak on the issues of education, health, immigration, public safety, the economy and civil rights. NHMC will train these experts to meet the requirements of television news and public affairs programming, focusing on effective on-air presentation. Selected markets include: New York; Los Angeles; Chicago; Philadelphia; Dallas - Ft. Worth; San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose; Boston; Atlanta; Washington, D.C.; Houston; Detroit; and Phoenix. Each of the local ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX owned-and-operated stations will be contacted and encouraged to use the NHMC Latino media expert list as a resource for future stories on these issues. "Currently, the Latino community is invisible when it comes to expressing its point of view on television news shows. Having local Latino media experts counter unsubstantiated and inaccurate rhetoric and to offer a Latino perspective on the issues shaping our country is essential," affirms Alex Nogales, President and CEO of the National Hispanic Media Coalition. "The National Hispanic Media Coalition provides an informed voice for the Latino community, ensuring those not often seen in the public eye will be both seen and heard," says Luz Benitez Delgado, deputy director at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. "NHMC's media experts will help create a more thoughtful conversation on how all Americans work together to address our common challenges." After training Latino leaders to become media spokespeople, NHMC will introduce them to local television station managers to begin a dialogue about offering a wider range of experts on their programs to better serve their local communities. "Media training is an essential part of the development of today's leaders. NHMC is thankful to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for having entrusted us with the task of identifying and training local Latino leaders to serve as media experts. Our job is not only to train but to ensure that local television station managers are aware of these experts and able to utilize them as resources" adds Inez Gonzalez, Executive Vice President of the National Hispanic Media Coalition. About NHMC The National Hispanic Media Coalition is a non-partisan, non-profit, media advocacy and civil rights organization established in 1986 in Los Angeles, California. Its mission is to improve the image of American Latinos as portrayed by the media, increase the number of American Latinos employed in all facets of the media and telecommunications industries, and advocate for media and telecommunications policies that benefit Latinos and other people of color. Learn more at www.nhmc.org on twitter at @NHMC. About W.K. Kellogg Foundation The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, founded in 1930 by breakfast cereal pioneer Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Based in Battle Creek, Mich., WKKF works nationally and internationally, and engages with communities in priority places in across the U.S., Mexico and Haiti to create conditions that propel vulnerable children to realize their full potential in school, work and life. To learn more, visit www.wkkf.org or follow WKKF on twitter at @wk_kellogg_fdn. Please Forward Media Contacts to: Rosalia Tenorio Director of Communications National Hispanic Media Coalition O: (626) 792-6462 C: (213) 718-0732 rtenorio@www.nhmc.org www.nhmc.org]]>
