Dear Colleagues:
I spoke with AEJMC President Carol Pardun today. I shared with her the
sentiments expressed by CSM & MAC members regarding President Obama and
Transparency.

She is going to provide a written response to our conversation after
speaking with Advisory Board members; however, this is a summary of her
response as to why the news release was sent.

1. It was a difficult decision that was discussed for several months.
2. The release was not politically focused.
3. "From our investigation, facts are clear that he hasn't had full press
conferences as often as he should have."
4. Despite the fact that he has had numerous press conferences and uses
social media, "he's driving the communication channels instead of giving
access that would allow reporters to do their jobs."
5. She has received a lot of emails thanking them for "having the guts" to
do the news release.
6. She was shocked and surprised that some have suggested the news release
was politically motivated.
7. She was even more shocked and surprised that some have suggested that
racism might have been a factor.
8. They did not expect this response and did not expect this to be
controversial.  They thought that net-neutrality would have been a
controversial issue, but not this. 

NOTE ABOUT # 6, 7, 8.
[I did not bring up "politically motivated" or "racism."  So, someone prior
to our conversation had raised those issues.  As for #8, I suggested that
more diversity on the Advisory Board could have caught this problem].

MAC Chair Jennifer Woodard and I have spoken. We decided that we would
hold-off on the joint resolution until we receive a written response from
Carol and the Advisory Board.  She will send the response to me with the
understanding that I will share it with CSM & MAC. (CSM is an oversight body
of AEJMC).

Thank you very much for your feedback.
Linda Florence Callahan, Ph.D.
Chair, Commission on the Status of Minorities
Professor
Journalism & Mass Communication
North Carolina A&T State University
Greensboro, NC 27411
 



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