Sonja perez, the largest hispanic advocacy Rights Organization in the nation. She has conducted and published research on latino social policy and demographic issues, including editing, moving up the economic ladder, latinos and the nations future prosperity which includes the Current Employment status of latinos and factors that influence their social economic. We will begin with comments, followed by time with questions. For those of you in the room, if you have a question, please write it on the cards that have been circulated and pass them to kate. Her hand is up. She is collecting those cards. Remember to print legibly, i cannot ask what i cannot read and i want to ask as many questions as we have time for. For those of you watching online, email your question two headliners press. Org. We are looking forward to an insightful discussion today. Thank you both for joining us. Sonja, the podium is yours. Good morning. It is a privilege for me to join today with our longtime partner and champion, representative castro, to discuss a important issue in our community. The continued and severe underrepresentation of latinos in the media. During his time in congress, representative castro and u. S. Have worked together on a host of issues affecting our community, including education, Economic Empowerment and voting rights. Yet, there is no question that our ability to advance policy changes that expands opportunity for latinos on any of these major issues is sorted thwarted by the perceptions our fellow americans have of the Latino Community. Our recent Polling Research confirms two things. First, most americans know very little about latinos. Not our contributions or our challenges. Second, there is an empathy gap among americans when it comes to the hispanic community. While 20 of those surveyed view our community negatively, the majority are simply indifferent to us. In short, the real story of the Latino Community remains largely untold. That is why u. S. Has made changing the narrative about our community a top priority for our you our organization. We launched a campaign and will in arizona that shows the importance of the latino communities contributions in that state, that is why we are here today in support of the incredible work congressman castro has done on this issue over the last several years. We wholeheartedly agree with him that at the core of the latino communities image challenges is our ongoing lack of representation overall and positive representation specifically in the media, both in front of and behind the camera. It is distressing we are still talking about this issue of Hispanic Media underrepresentation nearly 30 years ago, u. S. , which was known as the national council, documented the virtual invisibility of latinos in the media. We noted that it waseasier to see an alien fromouterspace then someone hispanic on screen. Three decades later, the gao reports that representative castro commissioned in 2021 found the Media Industry continues to lag behind virtually every other industry when it comes to latino representation. Today, latinos and latinas only me up 4 of management, while eight of 10 executives are white. In short, the Media Industry is failing the Latino Community at a time when in so many ways, hispanics are the nations future. Let me share why. When we did our studies, there were 22 million hispanics in the country. 11 of the population. This year in 2022, there are 62 million latinos. We are nearly one in five americans. The number of latinos in the workforce has tripled since we did our reports, we are nearly one in five American Workers and 70 of us are essential workers. Our buying power is 10 times larger than it was 30 years ago, and is now up to 1. 9 trillion. Perhaps most relevant to todays discussion, hispanics are more likely than others to consume media. According to nielsen, latinos watch more television and stream more than the average american. While we are 19 of the population, we are 29 of moviegoers. Greater latino media representation is not just the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do. Our community is doing its part to tell the accurate story of latinos in this country. One way is through our allout efforts to establish a National News em of the american latino as part of the smithsonian. It is time for the Media Industry to truly step up. There is no question that progress has been made in the last 30 years, but as the congressman will show, it has not been enough. We look forward to working with congressman castro to ensure the reports, recommendations are widely disseminated and adopted. Thanks to his extraordinary leadership, this issue, a key part of achieving greater diversity, equity and inclusion is once again front and center for our community and the country. Thank you. [applause] rep. Castro good morning. I am congressman keane castro, i proudly represent my hometown of san antonio, texas. I want to say, thank you for those kind words about me, but for the work you and nelson have done on this issue and 70 others. Oneills. U. S. Have been at the forefront of latino civil rights and advocacy for more than half a century. It is an honor to have you here as we release this part. It is a privilege to be back at the National Press club to support and conversation about latino representation in American Media. I consider it a foundational issue for our community. Thank you peter and kate for sharing your space and helping us spread the word about this event. Thank you michelle for your decades of hard work to uplift the tino stories and advancing careers of latinos and latino journalist. I want to acknowledge partners who have played an Important Role in helping this report come together and those who have helped me on this work over the past three years, including a colleague of mine, chair when chairwoman maloney and members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus join me as corequesters on this report. Also, folks who had been advocates on this issue for quite some time, i mentioned i have been working on this issue pretty hard for about three years. There are many people inside and outside the industry who have been working longer than that. I want to say thank you to a few folks. Was spoken up over the years, earned a garcia of the national Hispanic Media coalition, Felix Sanchez and the National Foundation of the arts, rafael augustine of the Latino Film Institute with the incredible work they have done, the latino advisory council, some of them are in this room, we have formally put together a coalition of organization over the last year to take on this issue. The folks who have done research, the latino donor collaborative, at ucla, stacy smith, those are some folks on the entertainment side. We are talking about media across platforms. When we think about hard news and general is him, thank you to the National Association for hispanic journalists for their advocacy. In my hometown, the San Antonio Association of hispanic realists. Journalists. You have book publishing. Over the last few years, there has been a Wonderful Group that has developed called latinx and publishing. And , who has done great work in pushing for change in publishing. Finally, thank you to the de i folks who i know are working hard day in and day out to change these numbers and change latino representation within their companies. Whether they listen to and appreciate it and whether their advice is heeded is sometimes a different story. I know where their heart and mind is, i want to say thank you to them. Finally, i said i represent san antonio. A big thank you to the san antonio ands who have inspired me san antonians who have inspired me. There are so many others who have worked within the industry, tell latino stories and contribute to research on this important topic. As a kid growing up on the west side of san antonio, in neighborhoods that were probably 95 latino, i was often glued to the television. I made it to the movies whenever i got a chance. I was a big fan of 1980s shows, like family ties, night writer, movies like the breakfast club. So many shows and movies that now as we are getting older, we would consider classics. The faces and places i saw on screen back then and since then hardly ever matched their reality around me on the west side of san antonio. Latinos make up nearly 20 of our nation, our contributions have shaped this countrys development and prosperity for centuries. Despite our numbers and growing power, our stories have been systematically excluded from hollywood and the American Media. Which is a dominant narrative defining institutions in our nation, and therefore, in the world. In the past, i have narrowed in on hollywood as particular example of this problem. The Publishing Industry as a source material is a nexus for what ends up on screen and in our classrooms in the textbooks that our kids learn about. In hard news, the less diverse our newsrooms are, the less likely they are to accurately describe the community they are covering. The gao report we are here to discuss today is an opportunity to try those fields together and look at the impact of latino dissolution across the Media Industry and what it means. Over the years, study after study has shown latinos are missing from the movies we watch, the textbooks our children read and the mass heads of newspapers that shape how americans see their communities and how they see the world. It as a result, it is clear our fellow americans simply do not know who latinos are. Not only because of American Media, but i believe partly because of American Media. I will start with an example that summarizes this problem well. Last year, researchers at the university of Southern California released a report on latino representation in top grossing fills films. Across 1300 top grossing films from 2007 to 2019, 3. 5 percent of lead roles went to hispanic or Latino Actors or actresses. Fits this marks the invisibility in American Society. In more than 40 of these films, keep in mind these are Box Office Winners most americans see, there were no latino characters at all. A whole community that represents almost 20 of the country did not even exist in those films. I have argued this kind of invisibility helps create a void in narrative, a black hole or stereotypes and bigotry can fester. When we look at films where latinos were represented, this becomes especially clear. In 100 top grossing films from 2019, nearly 40 of top build latino and hispanic characters were depicted as criminals or exconvicts. 40 . Think about what that means for a community. If you are growing up in a small town nor a big or a big city without many latinos and the only ones you see on screen are criminals, imagine how that shapes your worldview and what you think of that community. You know we are in the middle of a political season now, weve got over a month to go until this big midterm election. Many folks in this room, i know many of you understand how Campaign Commercials work. Played on repeat. Negative ads played over and over and over can help sear an impression of a candidate or some thing else in the publics mind, that is why candidates run the same negative ads over and over. I would compare those political ads and negativity to what hollywood has done for generations to latinos. Running the same ad over and over of tilatinos are hyper sex latinas are hyper sexualized. For decades, the american Media Industry has been running an extended commercials about latinos that focuses on the most harmful stereotypes of who we are. On screen and on the front pages of major newspapers, latinos are portrayed as drug dealers, illegals. These obscure the real life roles of latinos as essential workers who got us through the early days of the pandemic. Immigrant entrepreneurs giving new life to cities in the new midwest and trailblazers across almost every american industry. It is not just a question we are talking about today of which actor or actress gets a role in a movie or tv show, the defining images and narratives that come out of American Media affect every latino or latina no matter their walk of life, who may be interviewing to be an accountant, a lawyer, a engineer or teacher. In a room full of strangers who see them as American Media has defined our community. All of us Walking Around with brown skin or a spanish last name or however we identify as latino, are somehow marked by that generations Long Campaign that i spoke about and continues today. As these negative stereotypes permeate the american imagination, they become dangerous tools for politicians to abuse for their own gain. The result, the marriage of political expediency and damaging stereotypes produces in its worst iteration the tragedy we saw in el paso, texas where a madman drove 10 hours to stop what he called the hispanic invasion of texas. My focus today is on latino representation, it is important to know the same phenomenon has consequences for other ethnic groups, as well. For example, in the early days of the pandemic, irresponsible journalism about the spread of the virus led to a spike in hate crimes against asian americans. That combined with the political malfeasance and malevolence particularly of our former president led to spike in hate crimes against asian americans. This isnt just contained to our community, it becomes easier to convince americans to fear their neighbors when the media has already primed the pump. Let me recap for a second, i said this was a second part of this important gao report. Let me recap the first part, which came out last year. A little context to that. I met with top American Media executives, i have come to believe the root cause of these problems is that latinos have not been given the opportunity to tell our stories or shape the way those stories are told. Last year, i released the result of a report on latino representation in media from the gao. An independent, nonpartisan agency funded by the federal government. The report showed latinos are vastly underrepresented in the American Media represented Media Industry. We make up 12 of the workforce, when we look more closely at the data and get a portrait of underrepresentation emergence. In the Media Industry service sector, custodians, food workers and others, 22 of staff are latino. At the top of the industry among managers and executives with the power to decide which projects move forward, 4 of workers are tino. Latinos prop up Media Companies as moviegoers, streamers, gamers and more. We disproportionately subsidize the tax break in places like california and new mexico, states that have latino populations that are above warty percent. In many of americas largest mediocre media companys, there are in leadership roles. This trend has worsened over the last several years because of consolidation into the dia industry. The last year as Corporate Executives lobby regulars to approve a 43 billion merger between and warner media, i wrote a letter warning the merger would eliminate competition and let and opportunities for latino workers. In march, the newly formed warner bros. Discovery announced 13 member board of latina members without a single latino. That is a form of systemic exclusion. After the release of last years report, the Government Accountability office went back to work to produce a broader analysis of factors contributing to latino underrepresentation in media and assess the role of the federal government in addressing the systemic problem. Over the last several decades, most major corporations have made commitments to improving workforce diversity. I believe many of those commitments are sincere. The gaos data newly released today makes clear over the last decade, the level of latino employment in American Media, the levels have barely budged. The problem is especially acute for latinas who make up just 3 of workers in the Media Industry when you exclude service jobs. The fundamental question is this. What do we do about that, how does the federal government play a role . To answer that, gao researchers reviewed government policy and industry practices, analyze workforce participation data and conducted a series of interviews with stakeholders across the Media Industry to get perspectives on challenges at the heart of this issue. The stakeholders identified a range of issues outlined in the report, which has been provided online. We have copies, as well. I want to touch on a few of these things. Financial barriers. Of the stakeholders interviewed by the gao, many described serious obstacles to working in the Media Industry beginning with the burden of unpaid internships and junior positions that pay below a living wage. Even at more senior levels, compensation model such as royalties that pay out small sums over several years can make a extraordinarily difficult for modest means to stay in the industry. There is a problem being able to recruit people because of terrible pay, either unpaid internships are lowpaying jobs and a problem retaining people, as well. Several months ago, i held a roundtable for executives from a major Publishing House to hear feedback from latino authors and talent agents about increasing latino representation within the field. Several authors pointed to low advances as a major inhibitor to their careers and urged publishers to take a look at their data to evaluate whether latino authors are being paid fairly. I hope the industry will do that and will press them to do that. The second, no less significant barrier identified in the report , challenges with accessing professional networks including unions, which can require a baseline level of experience as condition of membership. One challenge cited in the report is the of latino representation among talent agents and other decisionmakers and the subsequent lack of imagination of stories we can tell. As my good friend, the author julissa put it, latino authors can write romance, horror, every genre imaginable because latino stories are all those things. The Media Industry needs to be willing to see that and open its eyes to that. I want to point out, i have been critical both in my work over the past three years and in reporting the first gao installment and this one. On the corporate side and studio side. Corporations do bear a heavy role, a responsibility for much of this. It is not just a corporate issue. It is not just a studio issue. The guilds, the unions, the talent agencies have a large role to play in opening up the doors to publishing, hard news and hollywood. Now, i want to give credit where credit is due. The gao report outlined several significant steps that major Media Companies have taken to increase diversity within their ranks. Including executive compensation to achieve diversity goals and cracked prioritizing succession planning that includes leaders from diverse background. I have become increasingly convinced the industry is not going to be able to solve this problem on its own. Latinos over index is moving ticket buyers and recent research from dr. Ramon and her colleagues at the university of california los angeles have shown latinos and other minorities play a huge role in the success of streaming films. Yet, despite that fact, despite the fact this Community Props up the Media Industry, the industry over all these years has hardly budged in terms of change. Despite these clear profit motives and incentives, assistant systemic underage station systemic underrepresentation continuing patterns will continue until steps in with how Media Companies should conduct themselves. The Government Accountability office looked at ways government regulators currently in force equal opportunities and found several gaps that can be fixed without new legislation or major regulatory overhauls. Right now, federal regulators have tools available to ensure workforce diversity, but gaps in data sharing and reporting have made it harder to root out discrimination. As an example, the federal Communications Commission relies on companies to selfreport discrimination complaints filed against them, which inevitably results in an incomplete picture of what is going on. If the eeoc, the main regulator overseeing equal opportunity, shared the information it has with the fcc and vice versa, the federal government would have a more complete picture of whether Media Companies are following federal antidiscrimination statutes and the fcc could use that information when deciding whether to renew station licensing. Labor unions also play a major gatekeeping role in media. The eeoc correspondingly requires certain unions to follow a report on the demographics of their members. The eeocs union list is not complete, it needs the cooperation of local unions to build a full picture of who should be required to file these reports, which i hope it will receive, or receive cooperation of our American Labor unions. Several Agency Responses to the gaos recommendations, both the eeoc and fcc acknowledge the value of data sharing between the agencies and committed to exploring opportunities for further collaborations. This week, my office is sending a letter to the fcc and eeoc that asks them to move swiftly to execute the recommendations in the gaos report. Along with my colleagues, senator elizabeth warren, congressman dash, congressman David Cicilline and others who have been active in the antitrust base, i will continue to urge regulators to consider how proposed media mergers can impact the Latino Community. There is clear evidence that corporate mergers reduce Job Opportunities for women and people of color, i would like to see antitrust regulators push much harder to protect latino employment. Federal regulators play an Important Role in enforcing equal opportunity. I want to touch briefly on other work i have done in collaboration with many folks in this room to open more doors for latinos and latinas in media. I have engage directly with more than one dozen Media Companies across various platforms to seek accountability on these issues. Second, i have worked with members of congress and state legislators to apply greater scrutiny to public subsidies that benefit media and entertainment companies. Too many of our communities are subsidizing their own exclusion, that needs to change. Third, i put forward legislation to use the influence of the federal government to drive change. As an example, i got an amendment to the National Apprenticeship act that would open up the department of labor support to the media and Entertainment Industries to get more latinos in the field. That bill, while it passed the house, has stalled in the senate. I have nominated or supported the nomination of latinos to federal boards and commissions and pushed for latino inclusion in the National Film registry. I have worked closely with the coalition of advocates outside and inside the industry to shine a spotlight on the lack of latino representation in media and entertainment. We need the Media Industry to understand this is a foundational issue for tinos and the country at large. Latinos can no longer afford to be sidelined by the Media Industry and afford to be invisible because of this. Their decisions, the Media Industries decisions, about what stories to tell, which actors to cast, which authors to publish, will shape the futures of latinos in america. In the early 2000, major film studios made a commitment to eliminate smoking in films for Young Children and adults. Their efforts almost eradicated smoking for a generation of young adults. I making a concerted effort to increase latino representation, the Media Industry has the ability to change the way americans see the Latino Community. American media has incredible power to affect cultural change, latinos are counting on the industry to use that. Thank you. I look forward to the conversation with michelle, i appreciate the effort of others in this room who have done so much in the generalist covering this important the journalists covering this important topic. Thank you. [applause] congressman, lets start with the bureaucracy and then work from there. You mentioned that the eoc and the fcc have an Important Role to play and if they would share data with if they were further along, it would be easier to see where they are falling short and perhaps address where their shortcomings are. In report, i noticed there was a hesitancy from the eeoc to share data with the fcc. Rep. Castro when you read the report, the fcc basically said, we will start moving on these recommendations. The eoc did not make a comment on the recommendations or say whether they were going to move forward. That is the purpose of the letter we are sending today. I am requesting a meeting with the eeoc shortly. They are an essential part of enforcement because if you look at the history of discrimination suits, there has not been strong enforcement in the Media Industry and other industries. I want to make sure they have the tools they need for enforcement. I noticed in the report, the number of cases that the eeoc investigated, as well as the fcc were included. They were on the low single digits. Rep. Castro you are right. I do not want to say it has been nonexistent, but it has been sparse. There is a lot of work to do on the executive branch to make sure that enforcement is robust. I start, remember, when you talk about antidiscrimination efforts, there have got to be specific cases. Somebody has got to come forward with a specific and legitimate, reasonable claim. Lets look at the numbers. So we have the context. I want to take the city of los angeles. The Entertainment Industry is based in los angeles, los angeles is the countrys secondlargest cindy city. It has the most latinos of any city in the united states. Latinos get overall, if you combine in front of and behind the camera work in the Entertainment Industry, about 7. 5 of the work. Los angeles is a city that is 48 latino. How do you go from a city that is 48 of your population, and youve got this Huge Industry that is based in that city and the industry is only comprised in front of and behind the camera of 7. 5 of that population . It is amazing. Claims have to be specific against a specific company and so forth. When you look at what is going on in the industry, it is incredibly troubling. It takes a big hole, and a lot of energy a big roll and a lot big toll and a lot of energy to bring a complaint against a employer. There is a concern about being black balled. If it takes so much energy to file those complaints, and the eeoc or the fcc is prosecuting less of them, what can be done to prosecute those cases more credibly . Rep. Castro great question. Over the years, i have come across folks in the Media Industry who have been reluctant to file eeoc complaints because they fear they are not going to be hired by the next 80 accompany or be blacklisted. Throughout American History, this has been a industry that has blacklisted people. That is a legitimate fear, something we have got to look at and work on from congress. I think the executive branch has got to redouble its efforts to make sure workers are protected when they come forward. Lets get personal. As a father of two young latino children rep. Castro three now. I have a fivemonthold daughter. Congratulations. How do you control the images of latinos your kids see, and how do you control what they watch . What do you tell them . Rep. Castro my wife and i have tried hard to expose them to positive role models and positive books about the Latino Community, about our Mexican American community in san antonio. I worry about, over time, what they watch on television or what they will be watching in movies. To me as somebody in politics, i compare the intergenerational negativity that has been displayed on screen about latinos to a longrunning negative political lad against the community that leaves a longlasting impression in the mind of kids, adults, everyone about who the community is. It is a big concern for me. Right now, because they are so young, we are better able to control as parents what they are exposed to. As they get older, it gets much tougher. When i was growing up, because i am 1000 years old, kid and zorro, disney had produced them and they were running on television. There was a History Lesson there and opportunity to see swashbuckling his way through justice. He mentioned there were no latino characters when you were growing up. None at all . Rep. Castro i think there were some, there were hardly any. Lets go through them. Those of you in the audience, as you think about your own expense lets start with cheers, the Highway Patrol man in cheers, poncho. You think of fantasy island in the late 1970s. They were a handful. I was in a city that was over 60 latino. The seventh largest city in the country, and a neighborhood i moved four times over the west side of san antonio. Some of those neighborhoods were more than 95 latino. Someone living in that reality, to watch American Television and see almost none of that. That is why i will give you an example. When i went to college in california, i think latinos made up at the time about 10 of the university. People asked me once in a while, did you have Culture Shock . Was it so weird because you are going from this place that is so heavily Mexican American, and you are going to this institution that is so lightly latino . I thought, not really. That is all i watched on television. Literally, that is all i watched on television, this american culture. For me, there was always discordant, what i would see on screen and what i was living in my daily life. Of the latino characters who you grew up with, what who was your favorite . Rep. Castro i like chips, i liked devon, i am struggling to remember. In the late 1980s, the early 1990s, i remember some of the movies. I remember la bamba. Stand and deliver. Those were great. I remember watching zoot suit. Some of the films, as well. Those were a handful of examples. In a community that almost rep since 20 of the country. Is the biggest problem lack of latino employment in the industry or images of latinos on the screen . Rep. Castro it is two separate things. There is the issue of workers and representation, and the issue of portrayal and stories. The reason the representation, who is in a writers room, who is in a sweet green lighting projects, who is the casting director, who is the writer and producer. The reason those things matter, who are the editors in a newsroom . Those things matter. The more diverse that lot of people is, the more likely you are to get accurate and authentic portrayals of the subject matter. I am arguing that the lack of diversity in this in in the industry in this end in the industry has created a stigma over the entire community. You start to solve one, it helps affect the other. To go back a little bit, i talked about this a lot over the last few years. Not so much today, but the reason media is important is because there is only so many ways we get impressions of people we do not know in the world. Think about how you get an impression of other people. Either through your personal experience, you meet them, or something you learn about them in the classroom. In public schools, universities. Or, through mass media. Youve got a lot of people growing up in communities where they have hardly ever interacted with or spent a lot of time with anybody from the Latino Community. In classrooms, we have been left out of American History textbooks and state history textbooks. When i was growing up in texas, the only latino or hispanic figures that were covered for the most part were the folks at the alamo. There you go. For a lot of people, no personal experience, no experience learning about anybody latino in the classrooms. We get to the third piece, mass media, American Media. That to me is why this is so impactful. How has media consolidation contributed to this situation . Rep. Castro you go from two open doors to one. You go from an opportunity with two companies to a opportunity with one company that has leverage and power over content creators and others. It is particularly troubling, at least on the diversity front, because some companies are better than others. Some companies are working in earnest more than others to fix this problem. When i see a company that wants to merge or acquire another one, and the company that is doing the acquiring has been worse in its effort than the company being acquired, i wonder which of those cultures is going to prevail. Is it going to be the one the acquiring company that has done almost nothing and doesnt seem to care about this as an issue, or are they going to take that opportunity to bring in culture that was developed by the one they are acquiring . That is part of a big concern. When you talk about antitrust, there is a lot of issues about price and what it does for consumers and so forth. The doj and fcc put out a public hall for folks, including members of congress and other organizations, to submit suggestions on how he should take a look at antitrust law. Theyve got to follow the statute and case law, it is not part block to impose any criteria they want. Within spirit of the law, how can we look at some of these criteria and take it into account . Can we talk about latinos in media without talking about other underrepresented groups such as blacks and asians . Is the entertainment pod big enough for everyone . Rep. Castro absolutely. I believe it is. As i mentioned before, our conversation today is specifically on the Latino Community. It is on the Latino Community because if you look at the percentage of the population, about eight team. 7 of the population has a 18. 7 of the population historically today in many areas of media, africanamericans are shut out. Asian americans are shut out. It is not exclusive to the Latino Community by any means. I have tried to work in coalition with the asianamerican community and Africanamerican Community to take on this issue. I worked with karen bass, who at the time was the head of the National BlackCongress Caucus and to request the committee do a hearing on these issues. That was done in november 2020. Have taken on some of these media issues. We worked well together in the past. There is a fine line between censorship and government control. Does report big brothers First Step Towards deciding what is appropriate . Rep. Castro no. It is a plea to stop characterizing latinos as criminals, convex, so forth. We are not telling you i am not trying to tell people how many higher how many people to hire, which stories to run. When an entire industry runs what is the equivalent of a negative political ad for decades over time, to me, hard news has had the same problem. A lot of their framing. They suffer from the same problem. Let me give you some numbers and what are considered the newspapers of record in the country. I have been talking about hollywood. This is a problem for journalism, as well. The latest numbers we had, only 7 of staff are latino. That is the nations paper of record. At the washington post, only 5 of employees are latino. At the Los Angeles Times in a city nearly 50 latino, only 17 of reporters are latino. I want to give credit to the l. A. Times, i think they are working hard to change that. Of those three, i think theyre doing the most work to change that. 7 at the new york times, 5 at the post. There is a lot of great people who work there. But, they are failing a large part of American Society and failing the country because they have been unwilling or unable to create a newsroom that is representative of the country. A lot of local newsrooms have disappeared to the point you were just making. Many latino reporters along with them. Can you tell us have fewer news outlets affect latino and issues important to us, and with the elections coming up, should there be more latinos covering the elections . Rep. Castro to answer your last question first, yes. I think so. When someone is part of a community, it could be the Latino Community, lets get off of race and ethnicity. It could be women covering womens issues. It could be someone from the lgbtq community. When you have somebody who is familiar with the community and that way, i am not saying they are the owner people who can cover the community. I think they are less likely to cover a community as though they are looking into a petri dish. There is this issue i have seen as a consumer and somebody in politics, a tendency for reporters who are unfamiliar with a community, whatever it is, who go in there, who fly in to treat it as though their job is to figure it out. That is a symptom of nondiverse news. It could be race and ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation. I think it is one of the reasons people were shocked, especially political news editors and reporters that trump had captured as much of the latino vote in florida that he did in 2016. I think your point is well taken. Rep. Castro it represents another failure of media, which is the failure to police different media. The failure of police, this information in Spanish Language press. What is at stake if this trend of not having latinos in media positions continues . Rep. Castro you have a population that is growing quickly. At the same time, it is a invisibility or misunderstanding of who the community is. Folks have heard me tell this story before, but we had a meeting with the association of american publishers in may of 2020. I asked one of the ceos of one of the top five Publishing Companies to name three the tinos who have made a Significant Impact in history. He said, no, i cannot. This is somebody who publishes textbooks for schools and universities and cannot thanks of three latinos think of three latinos who have made a impact on history. Americans do not know who latinos are. They do not know who among you have made an important contribution to the development or prosperity of the country in government, arts, culture, any industry. There is a danger to having that void in narrative to that black hole, it gets filled by these media stereotypes. Then, it gets twisted by unscrupulous and benevolent politicians who use it for their own gain. To answer your question, what happens is, it gets even more dangerous for a big rebuff people in the united states. The former publish the last 30 five years, a census of diversity, television. And hj has done the same for television. We have had hispanic heritage month for 30 years, if not longer, which is supposed to highlight the contributions of latino leaders and a variety of fields. Why arent people listening . Why are we still, after 30 years, and this position . Rep. Castro part of this is a corporate resistance to change. A flat out corporate resistance to change. Let me use the example of the Africanamerican Community, where are now, you finally have better africanamerican representation across media platforms. There is still a lot of big holes and underrepresentation. That has finally started to change in an earnest way. Quite honestly with corporations, and a lot of it happened after the murder of george floyd. There was a panic, a crisis of conscience, that something had to change. Think about what that means in the united states. Until the nation and the nations Corporate Leaders watching the murder of a black man on film for Corporate America to finally decide it was going to change. A lot of it is corporate resistance. They have the power to change. They have resisted that so far. Before we wrap up our discussion, let me take a moment to thank headliner leaders, donna and lori. The headliner team members who organized this event, Club Director and executive director. I would like to remind those in the room and our viewers online, our next newsmaker this friday, the climate activists and goodwill ambassador vanessa. I thank congressman castro for joining us today. We want to present you with our National Press club mug as a token of our thanks and hope you will be back to the club in the future. Thanks for being with us today. The final question, why should nonlatinos care about this issue . What is at stake for them . Rep. Castro i would help people understand a Community Help people understand a community of america who gives so much in positive contributions to the health and prosperity of our country, but as i mentioned, to not understand this community is dangerous not only to latinos but to nonlatinos. I use the example of el paso, where that mad man drove 10 hours from dallas to el paso and killed 23 people and injured more than 20 others because he considered them hispanic invaders to texas. The only People Killed or injured were not just latino americans, there were others. It is dangerous for everyone, for this community to be misunderstood. Thank you, representative castro, and thank you all for joining us this morning. [applause] [indiscernible conversations] [indiscernible conversations] [indiscernible conversations] from the National Press club, we take you live to the Kennedy Space center for nasa tv coverage of the Spacex Mission to the International Space station. The launch has been set for noon eastern today. The crew is expected to arrive tomorrow