UPDATED MAY 26, 2012

Phase 1 of the relaunched Web site of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) is live. Check it out at AAJA.org.

Become an AAJA member or take a look at membership levels and benefits.

Make a tax-deductible donation to AAJA.

To contact AAJA:

• E-mail: national@aaja.org | Telephone: 415-346-2051 | Fax: 415-346-6343
• Mailing address: 5 Third St., Suite 1108, San Francisco, Calif. 94103

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AAJA NATIONAL OFFICER ELECTIONS

AAJA members will be electing candidates for the offices of National President, National Vice President for Broadcast and National Treasurer for two-year volunteer terms that begin Jan. 1, 2013. 

For more information, click here.

AAJA PROGRAMS

For professionals:

• To find out more about opportunities for professional journalists, contact Professional Programs Coordinator Marcia Santillan at marcias@aaja.org or call 415-346-2051, Ext. 107.
• Check out AAJA Career Listings for members here.
• Have Member News to share? Send a 30- to 40-word write-up with biography and photo (subject to editing) to Professional Programs Coordinator Marcia Santillan at marcias@aaja.org.

For students:

• To learn more about programs for high school and college, as well as scholarships and internship grants, contact Student Coordinator Nao Vang at naov@aaja.org or call 415-346-2051, Ext. 102.

UNITY 2012 CONVENTION

Join journalism industry leaders from around the world for UNITY12, Aug. 1-4 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. AAJA and our UNITY alliance partners will present the latest in journalism training, and the convention will offer unparalleled opportunities to expand your industry contacts.

Pre-registration rates expire June 29, so register as an AAJA member and save!

AAJA CAREER LISTINGS

Looking for a job or wanting to post a job?  If so, access AAJA’s Career Listings here.

AAJA MEDIAWATCH

MediaWatch is AAJA’s core program to address unfair and inaccurate news coverage about Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs).

An AAJA Media Advisory on News Coverage of Jeremy Lin was issued Feb. 22. We encourage you to share this resource for how to report fairly and accurately on Lin and other AAPIs.

Participate in the MediaWatch discussion by joining the MediaWatch Facebook group. 

AAJA MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION

Membership in AAJA is open to all who believe in our mission, which includes ensuring fair and accurate coverage of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs), as well as encouraging the hiring and promotion of AAPIs in newsrooms.

Membership benefits include access to AAJA Career Listings, discounts on UNITY12 convention registration and savings on professional services, such as Poynter training.

Become an AAJA member.

Click here for AAJA Member News.

If you have questions, contact AAJA Membership and Chapter Development Manager Antonio Salas at antonios@aaja.org or call 415-346-2051, Ext. 105.

ABOUT THE ASIAN AMERICAN JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION

AAJA’s Leadership

• Executive Director Kathy Chow | 415-346-2051, Ext. 106
• National President Doris Truong
• National Vice President for Broadcast George Kiriyama
• National Vice President for Print Thomas Lee
• National Secretary Theodore Kim
• National Treasurer Rene Astudillo
• AAJA National Board

The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit professional and educational organization with more than 1,500 members across the United States and in Asia. AAJA’s 21 chapters are in Arizona, Asia, Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Florida, Hawai’i, Los Angeles, Michigan, Minnesota, New England, New York, North Carolina, Philadelphia, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco/Bay Area, Seattle, Texas and Washington, D.C.

Founded in 1981, AAJA has been at the forefront of change in the journalism industry. AAJA’s mission is to provide a means of association and support among Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) journalists; provide encouragement, information, advice and scholarship assistance to AAPI students who aspire to professional journalism careers; provide to the AAPI community an awareness of news media and an understanding of how to gain fair access; and, research and point out when news media organizations stray from accuracy and fairness in the coverage of AAPIs.

AAJA is an alliance partner in UNITY Journalists along with the Native American Journalists Association, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association.

To contact AAJA:

• E-mail: national@aaja.org | Telephone: 415-346-2051 | Fax: 415-346-6343
• Mailing address: 5 Third St., Suite 1108, San Francisco, Calif. 94103

Feb. 22, 2012

As NBA player Jeremy Lin’s prowess on the court continues to attract international attention and grab headlines, the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) would like to remind media outlets about relevance and context regarding coverage of race.

In the past weeks, as more news outlets report on Lin, his game and his story, AAJA has noticed factual inaccuracies about Lin’s background as well as an alarming number of references that rely on stereotypes about Asians or Asian Americans.

Please give careful consideration to the following tips to ensure fair, accurate and sensitive portrayals of Lin and others who are Asian American.

AAJA and AAJA MediaWatch stand ready to assist any news organizations that have questions or concerns about news coverage and race. We all have the same goal: good journalism.

OUR GUIDELINES
Stop to think: Would a similar statement be made about an athlete who is Caucasian, African American, Latino or Native American?

Use caution when discussing Lin’s physical characteristics, particularly those that feminize/emasculate the Asian male (Cinderella-story angles should not place Lin in a dress). Discussion of genetic differences in athletic ability among races should be avoided. In referring to Lin’s height or vision, be mindful of the context and avoid invoking stereotypes about Asians.

THE FACTS
1. Jeremy Lin is Asian American, not Asian (more specifically, Taiwanese American). It’s an important distinction and one that should be considered before any references to former NBA players such as Yao Ming and Wang Zhizhi, who were Chinese. Lin’s experiences were fundamentally different than people who immigrated to play in the NBA. Lin progressed through the ranks of American basketball from high school to college to the NBA, and to characterize him as a foreigner is both inaccurate and insulting.

2.  Lin’s path to Madison Square Garden: More than 300 Division I schools passed on him. Harvard University has had only three other graduates go on to the NBA, the most recent one being in the 1950s. No NBA team wanted Lin in the draft after he graduated from Harvard.

3. Journalists don’t assume that African American players identify with NBA players who emigrated from Africa. The same principle applies with Asian Americans. It’s fair to ask Lin whether he looked up to or took pride in the accomplishments of Asian players. He may have. It’s unfair and poor journalism to assume he did.

4. Lin is not the first Asian American to play in the National Basketball Association. Raymond Townsend – who’s of Filipino descent – was a first-round choice of the Golden State Warriors in the 1970s. Rex Walters, who is of Japanese descent, was a first-round draft pick by the New Jersey Nets out of the University of Kansas in 1993 and played seven seasons in the NBA; Walters is now the coach at University of San Francisco. Wat Misaka is believed to have been the first Asian American to play professional basketball in the United States. Misaka, who’s of Japanese descent, appeared in three games for the New York Knicks in the 1947-48 season when the Knicks were part of the Basketball Association of America, which merged with the NBA after the 1948-49 season.

DANGER ZONES
“CHINK”: Pejorative; do not use in a context involving an Asian person on someone who is Asian American. Extreme care is needed if using the well-trod phrase “chink in the armor”; be mindful that the context does not involve Asia, Asians or Asian Americans. (The appearance of this phrase with regard to Lin led AAJA MediaWatch to issue a statement to ESPN, which subsequently disciplined its employees.)

DRIVING: This is part of the sport of basketball, but resist the temptation to refer to “an Asian who knows how to drive.”

EYE SHAPE: This is irrelevant. Do not make such references if discussing Lin’s vision.

FOOD: Is there a compelling reason to draw a connection between Lin and fortune cookies, takeout boxes or similar imagery? In the majority of news coverage, the answer will be no.

MARTIAL ARTS: You’re writing about a basketball player. Don’t conflate his skills with judo, karate, tae kwon do, etc. Do not refer to Lin as “Grasshopper” or similar names associated with martial-arts stereotypes.

“ME LOVE YOU LIN TIME”: Avoid. This is a lazy pun on the athlete’s name and alludes to the broken English of a Hollywood caricature from the 1980s.

“YELLOW MAMBA”: This nickname that some have used for Lin plays off the “Black Mamba” nickname used by NBA star Kobe Bryant. It should be avoided. Asian immigrants in the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries were subjected to discriminatory treatment resulting from a fear of a “Yellow Peril” that was touted in the media, which led to legislation such as the Chinese Exclusion Act.


FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
See AAJA’s “All-American: A Handbook to Covering Asian America”*

Special thanks to AAJA members Ji Hyun Lee, Ursula Liang, Danny O’Neil and Jay Wang for their contributions to this advisory.

NOTE: This post was updated Feb. 23, including a correction to the reference about which schools passed on Jeremy Lin.

* While AAJA.org is out of service, please e-mail mediawatch@aaja.org if you would like a PDF copy of the handbook and its addendum.