November 19, 2020
Newsletter
Getting into the holiday spirit. How do you like our seasonal logo?

  • President's Note
  • AAJA Awards Celebration & Holiday Party
  • Upcoming Events & Resources Sports Task Force Guidance on Coverage of Marlins' General Manager Kim Ng
  • Member Updates
President's Note
Dear AAJA Family,

I know many of us expected Election Week to be a highly challenging week. Thank you for working around the clock and doing your part as journalists to ensure that the public remains informed and that the electoral process is as transparent as can be. From the data and design teams working in the light of multiple screens to our broadcast journalists working in bright spotlights in battleground states, we see you. THANK YOU.
I titled this note, "Reset. It's been a year," borrowing a quote from Doris Truong's "Election Day compounded an already trying year for journalists of color." Her piece encapsulates the immense emotional labor we have experienced this year. As AAPI journalists, we have faced increased racism as we do our jobs, while facing the challenges of a COVID-19 reality in every aspect of our lives. Journalists of color have been shouldering the burden of our industry's failures to make meaningful improvements on diversity, and we are tired.

We're so proud of our #AAJAFamily and all we've accomplished personally and professionally during a stressful and norm-shifting year. And that's why we hope you'll join us in December to celebrate the joys we found despite this year's difficulties, breathe a sigh of relief as it comes to an end, and reset. In lieu of the annual office parties we'll be missing out on this year, AAJA will host a virtual gathering in December to celebrate and heal. More to come.
 
Wishing you wellness and rest,
Michelle Ye Hee Lee
President
RSVP for the 2020 Awards & Holiday Party
We invite you to join us on Friday, December 11, 2020, to celebrate this year's awards recipients, reflect on 2020 with as much levity as possible, and toast to the new year-- which marks the 40th Anniversary of the founding of the Asian American Journalists Association.

We welcome you to submit images, achievements, #AAJAFamily moments, and notable coverage you've produced this year for consideration in a slideshow of the year by Friday, November 27, 2020 to jessicax@aaja.org.
HQ Systems Update
We are transitioning to a new database. We’ll follow up with onboarding instructions to our new site in January. If your membership expires in December, please wait until the new year for renewal instructions. In the meantime, we will consider your membership current through the end of 2020.
📅 Upcoming AAJA Events
Dec 2
AAJA-NY Book Club #2: Shang-Chi Comic Book Series with cartoonist Gene Luen Yang, moderated by NY chapter member, writer, and illustrator Ruth Tam and in collaboration with AAJA-DC and At-Large. Register here. (ICYMI: Here is the inaugural book club with poet Eric Tran discussing his The Gutter Spread Guide to Prayer.)

Dec 2
AAJA-Sacramento Workshop on Empowerment & Leadership: How to Use Power Dynamics to Advance in Your Career with Dr. Ron Brown Empower yourself by understanding how power and leadership work in your workplace. Presented by AAJA Sacramento and Comcast. Learn more and register here. 

Dec 11
AAJA Awards Ceremony & Holiday Party

Dec 18
AAJA-Chicago Trivia Bowl Returning after a multi-year hiatus, recruit your team (round up your AAJA-LA trivia bowl buddies?) for the Chicago style Trivia Bowl, hosted by ESPN reporter and trivia expert Michele Steele. Free, with suggested donation of $20 per person to support Chicago chapters' summer internship programs at top newsrooms. Sign up here.

Jan 22
AAJA-NY Book Club #3: Why We Swim by journalist Bonnie Tsui, moderated by journalist and avid open-water swimmer Amy Wu. Algonquin Books is offering AAJA members a special 30% off promo, starting Friday Nov. 20 through book club day, with code: WWS30
📓 Resources
Guidance
AAJA Sports Task Force issues guidance on coverage of Marlins' general manager Kim Ng. Read here.

Article
"Election Day compounded an already trying year for journalists of color" by Doris Truong, Poynter Institute

Panel Tonight
"Ni Una Más: Seeking justice for femicide in Mexico through poetry, journalism and law," feat. Erika Schultz and Corinne Chin, IWMF

Recording
"Eye of the Storm: Media, Work, and Passion in the Age of Coronavirus," feat. Joie Chen, Michelle Ye Hee Lee, Natasha Chen, Dolly Li, and Katherine Reynolds Lewis, Chinese American Museum, DC, Women in Leadership Series

Article
"The Substackerati, Did a newsletter company create a more equitable media system--or replicate the flaws of the old one?" by Clio Chang, Columbia Journalism Review

Article
‘Go in small with clear-eyed expectations’: How a crop of startups are trying to make for-profit local news work by Steven Perlberg, Digiday
👏 #AAJAKudos to...
Celebrate your achievements with us-- tag @aaja or let us know on Slack. 
  • Jia Lynn Yang, whose book One Mighty and Irresistible Tide has been listed as one of Time's 100 Must-Read Books of 2020
  • E. Samantha Cheng, whose book Honor and Duty, The Chinese American WWII Veterans was released on November 11.
  • Tami Nguyen, on her new role as a communications specialist for Dr. Ibram Kendi at the Boston University Center for Antiracism Research.
  • Denise Nakano, AAJA Executive Leadership Program grad, on being the first Asian American full-time anchor at KYW Newsradio in #Philadelphia, one of the oldest stations in the country.
  • Richard Lui, on the successful world premiere of his debut documentary Sky Blossom: Diaries of the Next Greatest Generation.
On Our List📺📸📰 🎧
Member bylines emboldened.
  • Presidential Election
  • Kamala Harris' VP win marks 'powerful, emotional' moment for African American and South Asian American women, USA Today by N'dea Yancey-Bragg, Nicolas Wu contributing
  • Asian Americas are seeing unprecedented outreach - but campaigns could still do better by Li Zhou, Vox
  • 📺 The impact of Asian Texans on the election, SBS Dateline

  • Local Elections
  • Making history: Three Korean American women, two representing California, win seats in Congress by Anh Do, Los Angeles Times
  • Meet California's first Gen Z lawmaker by Victoria Namkung, NBC News
  • Nikil Saval went from magazine editor to 1st Asian American in Penn state Senate by Saloni Gajjar, NBC News

  • On Kim Ng
  • 🎧 Murray Magic and the Return of Jameis: Domonique Foxworth on NFL Week 10 by Pablo S. Torre, ESPN Daily (to skip to Ng, check out Torre's tweet clip)

  • Amy Yee's work on misinformation and disinformation
  • To Recognize Misinformation, Teach a Generation When It's Young, The New York Times
  • Latinos Are Targets of Election Disinformation - But Activists Are Fighting Back, The Guardian
  • How to Combat Disinformation Targeting Black Communities, Yes Magazine

  • Other Cool Stuff
  • Cold Won't Stop Manhattan's Sizzling Korean Barbecue Houses by Michelle Lee, NY Eater
  • 🎧 Talk Human to Me, a podcast by AAJA Catalyst alum Jeff Shiau, that helps entrepreneurs who feel stuck, lonely, or disconnected. Press pause & reflect on personal parts of life that feel left in the dark.
  • James Koh, will be on his first NFL Thursday Night Football broadcast tonight (Cardinals vs. Seahawks) -- streaming on Amazon Prime Video and Twitch.
Also on our list...Ford Foundation's CREATIVE FUTURES, 40 provocations by thinkers across the spheres of arts and culture, documentary film, and journalism unfolding throughout the fall of 2020.

  • "Through palabra., we can cover our communities in an inclusive, powerful, and resourceful way that gives us the ability to tell our own stories as we reclaim our own narrative." - Alberto B. Mendoza, Executive Director of National Association of Hispanic Journalists NAHJ

  • "What can nurturing and creation outside of the distraction of racism look like? What could journalists from underrepresented backgrounds accomplish outside of having to litigate their experiences?" - Lam Thuy Vo, Senior Reporter BuzzFeed News

  • "In 2020, I was a producer on Asian Americans, a groundbreaking series for which we had five hours to tell 150 years of history spanning from the Chinese who built the railroads to South Asians targeted after 9/11." - Grace Lee, Director and Producer

  • "In this moment of existential uncertainty, BIPOC artists not only suffer a tenuous existence, they simultaneously shoulder the burden of imagining the possibilities of a better future." Don Young, Director of Programs for the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM)
Fund for Investigative Journalism Announces Diversity Grants for Stories by Freelance Reporters on Any Topic; Applications Due November 20

Grants of up to $10,000 will be awarded to cover the expenses of investigative reporting, which can include travel, research or technical assistance, open-records fees, small stipends for freelance journalists’ time and other costs. In addition to grants, the Fund for Investigative Journalism will provide recipients with one-year memberships in Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) and the Ida B. Wells Society, two national investigative journalism organizations that provide training and networking. Learn more and apply here.
HAVE YOU JOINED AAJA STUDIO YET?
We're giving newsrooms no excuse to leave us out. Nominate yourself or someone else to be part of the inaugural AAJA Studio, the first-ever AAPI focused listing of subject matter experts.
Did you produce (or consume) some great journalism recently? Put your work on our radar, so we can feature you in the next member highlights.
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