April 14, 2022
Newsletter

An Asian senior walks in Oakland’s Chinatown in California. From "Who keeps Chinatown safe?" by Sarah Belle Lin, for Curbed. Photo: Jeff Chiu/AP/Shutterstock. 

ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS

• Farewell for now, Jessica 
• Announcing Scholarships Winners
• Resources: AAJA commends AP Stylebook’s style update re: “Japanese incarceration” over “Japanese internment” 
• Kudos & On Our List
• Apply for AAJA x Yahoo’s Multimedia Journalism Fellowship ASAP! *Competitive pay, mentorship, excellent work/life balance and possibility to stay on full-time* 

From AAJA-HQ: Beginnings, Endings and Progress

Solar New Year celebrations 🇰🇭 Soursdey chnam thmey! 🇹🇭 Suk San Wan Songkran! 🇮🇳Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh! (and so much more!) From all of us at AAJA-HQ, happy new year! As many of our Southeast and South Asian members celebrate the new year, we're sending our best wishes for a prosperous year.

Media Institute Thanks to a grant from The Asian American Foundation, AAJA conducted two of three Media Institute trainings this month in Oakland and Chicago. AAJA worked with TAAF and Asian Health Services in Oakland and Chinese American Service League in Chicago to convene  community leaders to build relationships and work with the media, tell their stories effectively and share their expertise. For round-ups of the two trainings, check out our Twitter threads (1, 2).

Mentor Match The 2022 Mentor Match program began on Sunday with our first monthly meeting. Shoutout to our co-directors Ruth Liao, Kenichi Serino, Adrienne Shih, Grace Moon and Sheryl Lee for their hard work in matching over 100 mentees with mentors. Thank you to all who volunteered to mentor!

Farewell for now to Jessica Xiao We wish a fond farewell to our incredible Director of Communications and Strategic Engagement, Jessica Xiao, who departs from her role at the end of this week. Thank you for your leadership, vision and constant support to the team throughout your time at AAJA. We’ll miss you on staff, but you will always be in the #AAJAFamily.

2022 Scholarships Recipients We’re proud to announce the following winners, and are excited to continue announcing further recipients in the coming weeks!

• White House Correspondents’ Association: Daniel Lam
• Al Young Sports Journalism Scholarship: Anish Vasudevan
• Jimmie and Suey Fong Yee Internship Grant: Amna Subhan, Nathan Han
• Michael Kim Broadcast Fellowship: Aryanna Prassad
• ProPublica Student Conference Stipend Recipients attending #AAJA22: Brandon Yam, Janat Kaur Batra, Anjali Huynh, Shi En Kim and Simon J. Levien

🗓 Upcoming Events

April 14 | AAJA-LA, AAAJ-LA, NABJ-LA and College Futures Foundation | L.A. Uprising/Saigu Reflections: Race Relations Then and Now | In commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the L.A. Uprising/Saigu, civil rights leaders and media experts reflect on race relations then and now tonight at 6 p.m. PT. Register here.

April 20 | Mentor Match | Creating a Mentorship Network: Being the Mentor/Mentee You Always Wanted featuring Dr. Bey-Ling Sha from Cal State Fullerton | AAJA Mentor Match presents this session on defining mentorship (vs. sponsorship), mentoring and being mentored, identifying your own professional/development needs, finding mentorship partners, creating a mentoring network and the AAJA mentoring program. Register here.

April 20 | yung AAJA | Slack Office Hours | AAJA’s Young Professionals Network (affectionately known as yung AAJA) is hosting Slack office hours in the #affinity-yung-aaja channel next week on what it's like to move between different forns of journalism. If you’re not on Slack yet, please contact the yung AAJA co-leads. Reach out to Grace Moon if you’re an experienced journalist and wish to chat with yung AAJA.

April 21 | AAJA-Chicago | Hiring Manager Panel | Join AAJA Chicago’s Hiring Manager Panel with editors from Block Club Chicago, WBEZ and WebMD to discuss tips and best practices when applying for journalism jobs on Thursday, April 21, 6 p.m. CT. RSVP here.

"You don't get to transparency about diversity by relying on people's goodwill."

-Meredith Clark, Nieman Lab

📓 News & Resources

Diversity report AAJA-Asia released its Advancing News Diversity in Asia (ANDA) Research Report on April 6. This first-of-its-kind study provides a snapshot of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the region’s news media industry from an Asia perspective.

Style AAJA is pleased to see AP Stylebook include this meaningful update to its guidance, emphasizing the importance of calling for usage of “incarceration” over “internment" when referring to Japanese American incarceration during World War II. Thanks to Henry Fuhrmann for bringing this to wider attention. AP Stylebook editor Paula Froke announced that the latest edition will include a new chapter on inclusive storytelling.

News about news The lead researcher of the News Leaders Association's diversity survey, Meredith Clark, has resigned from the project, due to a low participation rate for 2022 – just 303 newsrooms out of 2,500.

Advice Naseem Miller shares her tips on trauma-informed journalism: what it is, why it’s important and tips for practicing it, for The Journalist's Resource. 

Guide 2021 Reynolds Journalism Institute Innovation fellow Hannah Wise launched a disability toolkit as a starting point for journalists and news organizations to improve disability coverage and the accessibility of news products.

Awards AAJA Portland is proud to announce its 2023 AAJA Portland Diversity and Inclusion Awards. Read more here.

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

• S. Mitra Kalita for being named the News Leaders Association's 2022 News Leader of the Year.
• Jan Carabeo, Jaclyn Lee, and Frances Wang, for anchoring last Saturday’s morning newscasts for CBS, ABC and NBC in the Philly area.
• Ravia Chandra, who won “Best Film” at the Cannes Independent Film Festival for his debut documentary, “The Bandaged Place: From AIDS to COVID and Racial Justice.”
• Janelle Bitker for her new position as the Senior Food and Wine editor at the San Francisco Chronicle.
• Wendy Lu, who joins the flex desk at The New York Times.
• David Louie for creating the David Louie Scholarship as he marks his 50 year anniversary at ABC7 News.
• Jay Wang for being named the projects editor at The Washington Post.
• Sneha Dey for continuing her work as a general assignment reporter at The Texas Tribune.
• Amna Subhan, who will be starting an internship with Sports Illustrated.
• Claire Kuwana, who will be starting an internship at Dallas News.

On Our List 📺📸📰🎧

Follow us on Twitter @aaja for more works on our radar from the AAJA community.

News 📰

• “Who Keeps Chinatown Safe? In Oakland, a volunteer group accompanies Asian seniors while fighting the label of “outsiders.” by Sarah Belle Lin, Curbed
• "'Person of interest' named in NYC subway shooting that wounded 10, injured 13" by David K. Li, Jonathan Dienst and Dennis Romero, NBC News
• Roundup: “Times coverage of Ramadan 2022” from The Los Angeles Times
• “Op-ed: What two young Afghan women — our former interns — taught us about helping refugees” by Curtis S. Chin and Laura Deal Lacey, CNBC
• “‘He was so loved’: What we know about the downtown Sacramento shooting victims so far” by Sawsan Morrar, The Sacramento Bee
• “Lynchings: An untold piece of Asian American history,” by Shawna Chen, Axios

Lifestyle and Perspectives 🪟

• "Meet BTS Choreographer and Dancing Queen from Waipahu, Sienna Lalau" by Stacey Makiya, Honolulu Magazine
• “How three women journalist leaders channeled legacy newsroom experiences into creating healthier nonprofit organizations” by Vignesh Ramachandran, Medium
• “Bridgerton's Charithra Chandran on Colorism, Culture, and Choosing Yourself” by Versha Sharma, Teen Vogue
• "‘We believe in us’: Michelle Yeoh on why more wonderfully messy Asian stories are being made” by Kimmy Yam, NBC Asian America

On Our Watch List: Coming Up Soon 📺

• "EASTMEETSWEST" docuseries w/ National Geographic's legend Michael Yamashita, by Farland Chang. Supporters of the series may donate here, with half of the proceeds going towards AAJA scholarships! Farland has offered the first episode, "Marco Polo: The China Mystery Revealed" to early supporters before the official launch here. Subscribe to follow their journey.

AAJA Opportunities:

• PAID AAJA x Yahoo Multimedia Journalism Fellowship | Apply here | Deadline: Recruiters are actively interviewing, apply ASAP
• AAJA-LA Pasadena Star News Internship | Apply now | | Deadline: April 14
• AAJA-LA Register Reporting Internship | Apply now | Deadline: April 22
• *new!* AAJA NY Corky Lee Fellowship in Photojournalism | Apply now | Deadline: May 14 | In honor of the late Corky Lee, two budding photojournalists will receive $5,000 grants to tell the stories of underrepresented communities in NYC, thanks to a grant from Johnson & Johnson.
• *new!* AAJA/NAJA Pacific Islander Journalism Scholarship | Apply now | Deadline: May 31 | The Native American Journalists Association and AAJA’s Pacific Islander Task Force are excited to announce a new scholarship fund of $4,500 each, with support from The Omidyar Group, to support Pacific Islander students and journalists in their careers.
• Mental Health Funding | Request funding here.
• Photo Submissions for AAJA's 40th Anniversary | Submit here

External Opportunities

• LAist Studios at KPCC (Los Angeles’s NPR affiliate) is producing a slate of podcasts centering on AAPI voices and creators. They are seeking contributions and pitches from AAPI journalists, thinkers and storytellers. For details, click here.
• CNN Deep Dive Are you a reporter looking to step up your game? Join CNN for a free one-day workshop in NYC on May 14 for a unique opportunity to engage with talent executives, on-air coaches and CNN correspondents, on what it takes to make it to the network. Register for the Reporter Workshop and Producer Workshop.
• NBCU Academy Next Level Summit Learn, grow and engage with NBCU! Attendees will hear from leaders, anchors, reporters and producers from NBC News, MSNBC, CNBC and Telemundo about the journalism landscape and how they can position themselves for success. This virtual, innovative and provocative summit will take your career to the next level. Register here.

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