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 WARNING: This e-mail correspondence is subject to Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.