ON January 25, 2022, Marianas Variety ran a story about a comment period for the proposed national marine sanctuary in the Mariana Islands. Based on my read of the article, it looked like the primary source was a press release by a federal government agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
We appreciate your newspaper bringing attention to important opportunities like this for our community to participate in federal processes that affect our people, islands, and surrounding waters.
However, we take issue with your use of the Friends of the Mariana Trench logo in your story. While the story you published is near and dear to our hearts, the press release should have carried a government logo, not our logo. We are a non-profit 501(c)3 organization, and we want to avoid confusing the community.
Today we released a press release of our own welcoming this action, and we think it appropriate to use our logo in this case. But we humbly request that you be more careful about using our logo when we are not directly and immediately involved in a story you publish.
LAURIE PETERKA
Executive Director
Friends of the Mariana Trench
