February 17, 2022
Newsletter

Villages in Vietnam prepare for Tet, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year. Marigolds and mums symbolize prosperity and good health. Michael Yamashita/Twitter

ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS

• Community survey on coverage as violence continues nearly one year after Atlanta
• TV Show Screening TONIGHT with AAJA-NY, AAJA-LA and cast of "As We See It"
• What did the pandemic do to the careers of journalists of color?
• Member bylines including Olympics coverage, "Why your shoes will be staying the hell out of my house," pandemic limbo and more.
• Get your $$ for school - Apply for an AAJA Scholarship by February 28. 

From AAJA-HQ: Coverage of Anti-Asian Violence Continues

Community Survey As we near one year since the Atlanta shootings and two years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we'd like to hear from AAPI journalists in the field. What's changed and what hasn't in coverage of anti-Asian violence and racism? Tell us what you want to see in coverage, in your newsrooms and from your managers.

Mental Wellness Given the recent tragedies affecting the AAPI community, we want to remind members of our available mental wellness resources. If you can, consider donating to the AAPI Journalists Therapy Relief Fund.

AAJA Voices Deputy Directors
Anh Gray and Isaac Easley have been selected as the deputy directors for the 2022 VOICES program. Learn more about them here.

Chapter Elections wrap-up
Congratulations to all new chapter leaders elected over the past two months! See the new boards of directors at AAJA Seattle, AAJA Chicago, AAJA Philly and AAJA Sacramento. (For previous announcements, refer to our last newsletter.)

🗓 Upcoming Events

*tonight!* February 17 | AAJA-New York and AAJA-Los Angeles
"As We See It" Screening and Panel w/ Sue Ann Pien & Chris Pang "As We See It" lead actress Sue Ann Pien and actor Chris Pang will join TV Guide's Kat Moon for a live virtual panel discussion on Feb. 17 around the "dramedy" and its representation of three adult roommates living with autism. Register here.

February 18, 25, 26 | Yung AAJA
Town Hall The pandemic has been hard on all of us as our social and work lives primarily exist in a digital space, but Yung AAJA has almost always existed as an online-only affinity group. To help bridge that gap, fill out this Google Form about what you like, dislike and want to see more of this year from our “chapter" and join us for our town hall to discuss how Yung AAJA has helped you so far. Register here for Feb. 18, Feb. 25 and Feb. 26.

February 23 | AAJA-HQ
*UPDATED* The Space: Grief and Healing for Asian American Women In light of recent events, we are repurposing this event, previously "How healthy are your relationships?" The murders of Michelle Go and Christina Yuna Lee have affected our sense of safety in our every day environments. What have you been holding on to that you want to release? What are ways to seek healing after experiencing loss and grief in our communities? This is a closed session for AAPI women and non-binary individuals only, capped at 25 participants. We will reschedule the relationships conversation at a future date. Register here.

February 25 | AAJA-Seattle
AAJA Seattle Lunar New Year 2022 Join AAJA Seattle's #VeryAsian #LunarNewYear celebration, featuring Michelle Li, Gia Vang and Ron Chew! This annual event is a family friendly celebration to eat, connect and raise money for our scholarship programs that pay for professional development and training for journalists of color. Tickets are available here.

Date TBD | AAJA-New York
Conversation with Stephanie Foo Join AAJA-New York for a chat with Stephanie Foo ahead of her memoir, What My Bones Know, releasing on February 22.

The Heritage Series’ Asian Pacific American (APA) Legacy Public Service Announcement (PSA) contest is a celebration of APA Heritage Month. The contest is open to any high school or college student of APA descent in the United States. Heritage Series’ APA Legacy PSA contest is to allow APAs to create fun and interesting 90 second video vignettes. The videos must convey what it means to you about being an APA and why you feel it’s important to recognize and celebrate your cultural heritage. 

Dates | Contest entries will be accepted from May 1 to May 31, 2022. Contest winners will be announced June 7 and cash prizes will be released by the close of business June 8, 2022 via VENMO.

Rules | Contest entries must be submitted as a public Instagram Reels post using the hashtag #APALegacy2022, tag @apalegacy and submitted using the Official Contest Entry Form found at bit.ly/APALegacy2022. For more details on eligibility and cash prizes, view the contest fine print here.

📓 News & Resources, especially in DEI

reflection Kristen Hare explores the impact of the pandemic on journalists of color in “What did the pandemic do to the careers of journalists of color?" for Poynter.

member spotlight The Seattle Times featured member Brady Wakayama in this piece about journalists of color at KING 5. 

news about news Jennifer Maas wrote about how NBC misidentified Mickey Guyton as Jhené Aiko during the Super Bowl pre-show performance. 

resource Amanda Hickman compiled “Resources and Recommended Reading on Hiring from the DEI Coalition Slack,” with input from Lizzy Hazeltine, Amy Jo Brown, Emma Carew Grovum and members of the DEI Coalition’s #managers-hiring-practices channel.

study The diversity of newsrooms affect the coverage of politicians, especially non-white ones, a study by Nieman Lab found.

diversity Journalists of color struggle to feel that DEI efforts are making a lasting impact in newsrooms, says the Columbia Journalism Review.

👏 #AAJAKudos to...
Celebrate your achievements with us—tag @aaja on Twitter or let us know on Slack.

• Suzanne Joe Kai, whose documentary "Like a Rolling Stone: The Life & Times of Ben Fong-Torres" was nominated by Writers Guild of America West for Best Documentary Screenplay. 
• Joon-Nie Lau, who moves from media to mediation after nearly 30 years as a journalist, in her new role: Deputy CEO at Singapore International Mediation Centre. 
• Chao Xiong, who is the new managing editor at the Sahan Journal. 
• Victoria Kim, who will join the New York Times Seoul hub as a correspondent.
• Sameer Rao, who is the new editor at Technical.ly, a publication for tech professionals
• Katie Phang, who will launch MSNBC's weekend show and The Choice on Peacock.
• Paul Cheung and Sandra Clark, who are members of the new Consortium on Trust in Media and Technology (CTMT) Consulting Council at the University of Florida. 
• Thuy Lan Nguyen, who joined WBIR as assistant news director. 
• Karen Mahabir, who is the new Director of News Talent for Development at AP News.
• Corinne Chin, who is the new Director of News Talent for Recruitment at AP News. She and Arin Yoon, Shuran Huang and Salgu Wissmath (2018 VOICES alum) are all International Women’s Media Foundation Gwen Ifill Fellows!
• Maddie Lee, who will be joining the Chicago Sun-Times, covering the Cubs. 
• The Washington Post summer 2022 intern class, including AAJA student members Janice Chen, Jess Eng, Gaya Gupta, Claire Hao, Yiwen Lu, Praveena Somasundaram, Maansi Srivastava, Meena Venkataramanan and Daniel Wu. 

Nathan Chen let out a celebratory fist pump at the end of his short program at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, the first step to his eventual gold medal in the men's free skate. Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

On Our List 📺📸📰🎧
Follow us on Twitter @aaja for more works on our radar from the AAJA community.

🤍  Remembering Christina Yuna Lee: 

• “Splice Staffer Christina Lee Remembered After New York Murder: 'Our Hearts Are Broken'" by Kristin Robinson, Billboard

🥇 2022 Beijing Olympics

• “Eileen Gu: Navigating two cultures, judged by both of them” by Janie Har and Sarah DiLorenzo, AP News
• “For Asian American women, Olympics reveal a harsh duality” by Sally Ho, AP News
• “Olympian Vincent Zhou on masculinity, skating, mental health and ‘strict’ parents” by Kimmy Yam, NBC Asian America
• “Why Nathan Chen’s history-making gold medal is so significant” by Kimmy Yam, NBC Asian America
• “Olympics a sweet, complex homecoming for Chinese diaspora” by Sally Ho, AP News

• “More than 20 years later, Michelle Kwan still holds a special place in hearts of Asian Americans” by Victoria Namkung, NBC Asian America

🤝 Coming Together: Community Perspectives

• “Here’s why your shoes will be staying the hell out of my house” by Jeff Yang, The Guardian
• “The millions of people stuck in pandemic limbo” by Ed Yong, The Atlantic
• “What does it mean to come together as Asian American women? This group has been seeking an answer.” by Sarah Belle Lin, The Cosmos
• “How BTS helped me bridge my Korean and American identities” by Joon Lee, The Undefeated
• “Artist Michelle Kumata creates two exhibits that preserve Japanese American heritage” by Ron Chew, International Examiner

For Students:

• AAJA Scholarships | Apply now | Deadline: February 28 (*Deadline for STF scholarships have been extended!)
• JCamp 2022 | Apply now | Deadline: March 31
• VOICES 2022 | Apply now | Deadline: March 31
• AAJA-Sacramento/Sacramento Bee internship | Apply now | Deadline: April 1

For Professionals:

• AAJA Awards | Apply now | Deadline: March 1

External Opportunities 

• TV Power Reporting with Poynter | This program has been cited as the launchpad that ignited the careers of thousands of journalists. Apply by February 18.
• Maynard 200 | The Maynard Institute's flagship professional development program has trained over 90 media leaders, storytellers and entrepreneurs through cutting-edge curricula and nuanced framework. Apply here.  

• American Public Media Group's Career Fair | APMG will be hosting their very first virtual Conference and Career Fair on March 1. This is a free event. Register here.

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