The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) is a 37-year old nonprofit 501(c)(3) civil rights organization active in the United States that was founded to eliminate hate, discrimination, and racism towards the Latino community.
NHMC collaborates with other social justice organizations to eliminate online hate and hold online platforms accountable for their content. They advocate for the Lifeline Program, net neutrality protections, and also work in closing the digital divide for Latinos and other marginalized communities. NHMC works in partnership with other civil rights organizations to safeguard democracy in the United States.[1]
The National Hispanic Media Coalition's annual Impact Awards Gala, held in Beverly Hills, California, has recognized those contributing to the positive portrayal of Latinos in Hollywood. Honorees include: Jaime Camil, Karla Souza, Jorge R. Gutierrez, Demian Bichir, Diego Luna, Edward James Olmos, Aubrey Plaza, Zoe Saldana, Eva Longoria, Robert Rodriguez, Jorge Ramos, Alejandro Gonzalez-Iñárritu, James Cameron, Benjamin Bratt, Danny Trejo, Gina Rodriguez, George Lopez, and Francia Raisa.
NHMC launched it’s Visionary Alliance in March of 2023. The first members to join were Aubrey Plaza, Danny Pino, Diane Guerrero, Eva Longoria, Gabriel Luna, Gina Torres, Gloria Calderón Kellett, Harvey Guillén, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Justina Machado, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Lisa Vidal, Rosario Dawson, Wilmer Valderrama, Wilson Cruz, and Yvett Merino. The alliance consists of leaders in the creative space who support NHMC’s mission throughout the year. Members will also amplify NHMC’s advocacy to connect, collaborate, and create opportunities for Latino talent in the entertainment industry through some of the organization’s programs. A few months after its launch, Ana Navarro and Francia Raisa joined the alliance.
For over twenty years, the NHMC Series Scriptwriters Program (SSP) has helped launch the careers of more than 200 Latinx writers.
Ten diverse Latinx writers nationwide are selected for an 8-week intense writers lab. At the end of the program, these writers will have either a half-hour or hour-long original series pilot, which they will pitch to entertainment industry leaders, beginning with our SSP partners. Over the 8-week duration, writers work with professional writing mentors, meet and speak with professional industry executives, develop a
pitch-ready script, and build a community of Latinx writers. The program is officially conducted virtually.
Our NHMC Alum writers have worked on shows that can be viewed on Netflix, CW, NBCUniversal, HBOMax, Hulu, Paramount Plus, Amazon Prime, Disney, AppleTV+ and more.
The Latinx Stream Showcase (LSS) is an educational and workforce development program geared towards diverse Latinx creators in front of and behind the camera. Showcased are directors, actors, writers, directors of photography, and various crew and editing positions.
The product is a series of short films between 5-10 minutes in length, viewed by entertainment
executives, streaming services, networks, showrunners, production companies, casting directors, managers, agents, and other decision-makers in the industry. The shorts are streamed on a specialized website featuring our creators’ talents.
Bios, headshots, and contact information of all participants in each project are available on the website for easy networking and sharing access to the industry.
To identify talent, NHMC joined forces with Netflix and five other leading organizations who are at the forefront of creating access to underrepresented creators within the industry: CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment), Native American Media Alliance, The Black TV and Film Collective, Outfest and Inevitable Foundation. Each organization nominated candidates from their own writers’ programs and Netflix selected the final recipients.
The program is designed to ensure underrepresented and historically excluded talent are set up for success beyond the writers’ room. The development deals provide these writers with the opportunity to go through the studio development process and hone their projects alongside Netflix executives from the series and film teams. Additionally, all series writers will be invited to participate in a showrunner training lab designed to provide the essential skills needed to successfully run a Netflix series.
Ongoing advocacy goals
NHMC is a media advocacy and civil-rights organization for the advancement of Latinos, advocating for inclusiveness, balanced media portrayals, and universal, affordable, and open access to communications.[2]
Among the issues NHMC works on are:
Responsible and Inclusive Media
Preserving media ownership limits is critical to protecting media ownerships of color from bring crowded out by rampant media consolidation.[3]
Universal and Affordable Communications
The Lifeline Program has worked for three decades as the only government program dedicated to bringing phone and internet service within reach for people of color, the poor, seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, and the less educated.[3]
Community Powered Solutions
In today's digital age, consumers are growing more concerned about the invasions of their privacy by the government and corporations. Government agencies and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have sweeping access to the personal information of individuals and user activity online.[3]
The Spanish Language Disinformation Coalition (SLDC) defends the fundamental and equitable rights of all to express themselves, access information, and engage in the open exchange of ideas online. Yet the rise of social media influence on public discourse has also brought with it a host of complicating factors that make truly equitable free expression and civic engagement difficult. Disinformation, hateful content, activities, and other forms of information and media manipulation are particularly potent mechanisms to divide society. This coalition was created to protect against those divisive and dangerous threats posed to Spanish-speaking communities. To hold social media platforms accountable, the SLDC has developed principles following the Change the Terms model to guide platforms on how to ensure they meet their own community guidelines to prevent the spreading of disinformation and hateful activities. Balancing the human rights principles and the concerns therein, we oppose the human and/or artificial intelligence (AI) spread, amplification, and opaque monitoring processes through which disinformation and hateful activities thrive on these platforms and set out the following guiding principles as a roadmap for platforms.
Social media platforms must have clear community guidelines translated into all languages in which the platform operates and make it clear that a user’s service can be terminated for engaging in hateful activities.
Social media platforms must prioritize preventing, curbing, and removing Spanish-language disinformation and should initiate programs and/or software trained in Spanish to counter disinformation campaigns targeting the Latinx community.
Social media platforms must equitably enforce their content moderation policies to ensure that the appropriate amount of attention and resources are given to moderate Spanish-language content. This includes hiring human content moderators who are fully trained on the nuances of how disinformation spreads, in addition to being Latinx and fluent in regional or local Spanish dialects and cultures.
Social media platforms must publicly disclose how and to what extent Spanish-language disinformation and hateful activities are proactively monitored, user-reported, and removed from the platform. Information should be included in public transparency reports that detail discrepancies between labeling or removing Spanish vs. English content and how their enforcement practices are broken down by language.
Coalition Organizations Include:
Anti-Defamation League (ADL)
Battle Born Progress
Common Cause
Equis Labs
Free Press
Fundamedios
Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHM)
Green Latinos
Hispanics in Philanthropy
Media Matters
NALEO Educational Fund
National Hispanic Media Coalition
Omidyar Network
Reset Tech
United We Dream
We Are Casa
Latino Representation in Publishing Coalition (LRPC)
The Latino Representation in Publishing Coalition (LRPC), a collaboration of seven Latino-led organizations spearheaded by NHMC, is a fresh force in the industry committed to the expansion of Latino representation in the field of publishing, from its published materials to executive leadership. Latinos make up nearly 20% of the US population, but only account for 8% of employees in publishing. Dignidad Literaria, Latino Corporate Directors Association, Latinx in Publishing, The Latinx House, Hispanic Heritage Foundation, National Association of Latino Independent Producers, and the National Hispanic Media Coalition organize to hold publishing companies accountable by strategizing tangible solutions that amplify the work of Latino creatives and promote Latino organizational staff throughout the industry. LRPC is also supported by Representative Joaquin Castro (D-TX 20), a champion in advancing Latino representation in the media.
Our Fellowship Program offers paid positions for students and recent graduates to work directly to support the social justice mission of NHMC. These positions are designed for individuals at a range of levels and include professional development, technical training, and mentorship.
Fellows' work focuses on a range of areas, including telecommunications policy, media advocacy, communications, and more. We have had a successful pipeline established, where former fellows have proceeded to work for NHMC, the FCC, congressional offices, other agencies, and media companies.
Your partnership can be directed toward a specific element of the research/organizational process (combating online hate, increasing Latinx representation), a specific pillar of our research agenda (e.g.,research into digital equity or net neutrality), or can be designed to fund a general position where the Fellow follows their individual intellectual passions and professional pathways.
NHMC hosts a series of Impact Awards and/or Panels spanning from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. to New York. During this series of ceremonies, we honor changemakers in media, businesses, social justice, and policy. The NHMC Impact ceremonies are a celebration of Latinx and non-Latinx who have created a positive and meaningful impact for our community.
In Washington, D.C. NHMC recognizes advocates who are working to bridge the digital divide and enact practices that protect the interests and concerns of Latinos and people of color. Throughout Awards and Panels held in New York and Los Angeles we strive to highlight those individuals and entities positively contributing to the media surrounding the Latinx community.
Past honorees and/or have included: Hall of Famer Fernando Valenzuela, Showrunner Gloria Calderón Kellett, Actor Gina Torres, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, Senator Cory Booker, Showrunner Tanya Saracho, NY1 News Reporter Jeanine Ramirez, Justice for Migrant Woman, and many more.
Over a third of the Latino population does not have access to the internet at home. This means that one in three Latinos cannot reliably access online education, remote work, or the digital economy. Our community and all those who have been historically and intentionally marginalized must not continue to be forgotten or pushed to the side as we move toward an increasingly digital world. This is why NHMC believes achieving digital equity—including closing the Latino digital divide—is one of the greatest civil rights challenges of our time. NHMC and our allies in community-based organizations, nonprofits, and all levels of government have consistently raised awareness of the digital divide, and advocated for programs, like the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) and the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). Yet, there is still more work to be done for our community and all those with lower access to broadband.
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References
↑ "About Us". National Hispanic Media Coalition. Retrieved 2017-07-05.
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