The work of the Asian American Journalists Association

Earlier this month, the Magazines and Newspapers Center hosted a panel of journalists from the Bay Area/Nor Cal chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association as part of SFPL's Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) cultural campaign, Weaving Stories, for May. Panelists from the San Francisco Standard, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Diya TV spoke on topics of Asian representation in journalism and the media, the boon to community-specific reporting that multilingual journalists bring, the gaps in representation that still exist for the many ethnicities under the Asian umbrella, and how they attempt to remain unbiased in their specialties. The overarching theme the panelists grappled with was the limits to representation--they were only four journalists, Chinese and Indian, which leaves out so many identities in the Asian diaspora. One Asian American beat reporter at a newspaper is simply not enough, asserted panelist Ravi Kapur, CEO of Diya TV.

Asian American Journalists Association Panel in Koret Auditorium, May 8, 2024

From L to R: Harry Mok, Ko Lyn Cheang, Han Li, and Ravi Kapur

As a librarian who up until recently worked with college students on topics of information literacy, news evaluation, and credibility of sources, this panel was the moment I penetrated to the next level. I was no longer just talking about how to evaluate a newspaper for its trustworthiness. I was hosting a panel of real journalists working hard to drill into this topic and create pieces that represent the Asian American experience in San Francisco, a city that is composed of 30-35% Asian residents, with authenticity and accuracy. I wished, in that moment in the Koret auditorium, that every student to whom I had taught the Ad Fontes' Bias in Media chart and the Trust Project trust indicators could be there, listening to these journalists grapple with the representation riddle as working professionals. The students could go straight to the source. Catch a glimpse of how the sausage is made. Ask themselves the same question, When does news go from being universal to being specific to a community and ethnic experience? For these students, the tagline "representation matters" would go beyond a slogan to a philosophy directly applied for good business reasons by the publishers of the Standard and the Chronicle and by the producers at Diya TV.

As May draws to an end, we can further boost the work of the Asian American Journalists Association by offering a hearty congratulations to the recipients of their annual Journalism Excellence Awards. Read an overview of the winners and their work from Editor & Publisher. While no San Francisco Bay Area journalists are awardees, the award-winning pieces linked in the summary will expand your understanding of issues experienced by Asian Americans and how they are covered by journalists from the Asian American Journalists Association. Let us know if you encounter paywalls for any of the articles and we will do our best to help you access the full text.