“The ever-changing media landscape presents both challenges and opportunities for AAJA as we pursue the goals of newsroom diversity and fair and accurate coverage of our country’s diverse communities, “ Moritsugu said. “AAJA means a lot to me, both as an organization and a family. I look forward to joining the leadership and working to help members navigate our evolving media world. As a longtime member who has led chapters in both the U.S. and Asia, I also hope to build bridges between our membership at home and overseas.”

(See the press release – PR.AAJA New VP for Print- AAJA issued to announce the results of the Special Election.)

Moritsugu has served on the boards of three AAJA chapters and is a former president of AAJA-New York. He is currently president of AAJA’s Asia Chapter, and during his tenure the chapter has grown from 30 to 130 members and launched an annual conference with the University of Hong Kong.

AAJA held a special election to fill the post of Vice President for Print after Tom Lee resigned from the position for personal reasons in January. Moritsugu will serve out the remainder of the term until Dec. 31, 2013.

Moritsugu, a member of AAJA’s Asia Chapter, received 133 votes, with about 1,000 AAJA members eligible to cast a ballot in the election held electronically Feb. 11 to 18. Neal Justin, a member of AAJA’s Minnesota Chapter and the other candidate for the position, received 114 votes. As AAJA’s National Secretary and Elections Officer, Kim thanked both candidates for their participation, integrity and ongoing service to AAJA.

AAJA held the special election to seat a Vice President for Print in time for AAJA’s spring board meetings.

“I’m excited to work with Ken Moritsugu as AAJA’s new Vice President for Print,” said AAJA President Paul Cheung. “Ken has lead the Asia Chapter’s successful growth in the past couple of years, now we can work together to help grow AAJA organization-wide.”

AAJA will hold its regular election in August 2013, with eligible members voting to fill the positions of Vice President for Print and National Secretary for two-year terms beginning Jan. 1, 2014.

To my dear AAJA family,

For the past two years, it has been my privilege to serve as your national president. As we prepare to flip our calendars to 2013, I am filled with hope for our future – not only as journalists but also as an organization. We are on solid financial footing, and we have a capable leadership team, helmed by incoming President Paul Cheung. He and his board will advance AAJA’s mission as Paul carries the torch on the next leg of our diversity relay.

At the start of my journey as your national president, I pledged to visit all 21 of our chapters. While completing my travels across AAJA Nation, I was struck by how our common bond is our passion for journalism and our shared cultural values. This connection is why I have called AAJA home since 1996, and I’m inspired to see a whole new generation of journalists doing the same.

Why is AAJA relevant? This year, we saw how speaking up on behalf of our communities is more important than ever. Without AAJA, newsrooms might not have the resources to properly cover stories such as the rise of NBA player Jeremy Lin or the facts about underreported communities such as Sikhs.

The updated “AAJA Handbook to Covering Asian America” offers guidance to journalists who seek to be fair, accurate and sensitive in reporting on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. We must continue to raise our voices for those who cannot. And for every voice in AAJA that is raised, 1,700 more are amplifying that message.

AAJA continues to be an industry leader in helping our members advance in their careers. Our chapters are go-to providers of professional training and networking: From AAJA-L.A.’s V3Con to AAJA-Asia’s Hong Kong regional conference, our members are on the cutting edge of 21st-century newsgathering, and that gives us an advantage in this competitive industry.

AAJA not only supports our members at work, we are a family with a worldwide embrace. No matter where you go, you’re not far from someone in AAJA who can remind you of why we entered this profession and why we remain committed to it and to each other. It’s a powerful feeling to know that we have 1,700 brothers and sisters equally dedicated to the mission envisioned by our founders in 1981.

I’d like to offer thanks to those who made my presidency possible: My employer, The Washington Post, has been unflagging in its commitment to ensuring that I could focus on AAJA and diversity issues. Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli, who has shared his time and expertise with our members, has been an outstanding champion of AAJA’s mission.

Dozens of volunteers throughout the organization have been pivotal to keeping AAJA moving forward. Besides our executive officers, our Advisory Board and the leaders in our 21 chapters, AAJA’s program co-directors deserve our gratitude. I salute JCamp Co-Directors Clea Benson, Neal Justin and Lorene Yue; Voices Editor Marian Lui; and Executive Leadership Program Co-Directors Bob Der and Justin Tejada. They all are strengthening the pipeline of journalists who understand that diversity isn’t a footnote but an essential component of the news report.

AAJA’s staffers often work behind the scenes, but they, too, deserve a turn in the spotlight: Thank you to Kathy Chow, Antonio Salas, Nao Vang, Marcia Santillan, and Glenn and Karen Sugihara for supporting all that our organization represents.

It has been my honor to serve as your president. I am signing off but not signing out. AAJA has given so much to me that I will continue giving back for decades to come. I invite you to join me in renewing for 2013.

And I will see you next summer for an “AAJA State of Mind,” Aug. 21-24, 2013, in New York.

Yours in journalism diversity, today, tomorrow, always,
and yours in AAJA,

Doris Truong, AAJA National President (2011-12)
aajadoris@yahoo.com
@doristruong

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Aug. 7, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO — The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) elected Paul Cheung as its 2013-14 National President, announced Friday at its annual Gala Awards Banquet, during the UNITY Journalists convention in Las Vegas.

On Jan. 1, Cheung, global interactive editor at the Associated Press in New York, will begin his two-year term as AAJA National President.

“I want to thank our members for seeing the possibilities of what we can do together for our future in journalism,” Cheung said. “I am profoundly grateful for the chance to serve AAJA as president.”

Cheung won with 273 votes. Janet H. Cho, a business reporter for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, received 111 votes. A total of 388 votes were cast, out of the more than 1,000 ballots from voting-eligible AAJA members.

“Congratulations to Paul and thank you to all the AAJA members who took the time to listen to our platforms and cast their ballots,” said Cho, a former AAJA Vice President for Print. “I enjoyed meeting so many of you at UNITY12, and look forward to continuing to represent you on the UNITY Journalists board.”

Cheung previously worked at the Miami Herald as its deputy multimedia presentation editor, and before that, he was a senior graphics editor at the Wall Street Journal.

His service to AAJA includes volunteering as a Governing Board member and being co-director of the OurChinatown hyperlocal news site, which was part of AAJA’s Executive Leadership Program Media Demonstration Project. Cheung has also been a trainer for AAJA’s multicultural JCamp for high school students. He has overseen programming for several AAJA national conventions and was co-chair of programming for UNITY12, which drew together AAJA, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the Native American Journalists Association and the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association from Aug. 1 to 4 in Las Vegas.

Elected in uncontested races were Niala K. Boodhoo, a business reporter at Chicago Public Media, as AAJA Vice President for Broadcast and Gautham V. Nagesh, editor of the Technology Executive Briefing at CQ Roll Call Group, as AAJA Treasurer.

Rounding out Cheung’s executive team are AAJA Vice President for Print Thomas Lee, a business reporter at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and AAJA Secretary Theodore Kim, a mobile editor at The Washington Post.

Outgoing officers are AAJA President Doris Truong, a multiplatform editor at The Washington Post; Vice President for Broadcast George Kiriyama, a news reporter for NBC Bay Area; and Treasurer Rene Astudillo, executive director of the Lupus Foundation of Northern California. Their terms end Dec. 31.

Cheung, Boodhoo and Nagesh will take office Jan. 1.

Media Contact: AAJA Executive Director Kathy Chow

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

The Asian American Journalists Association is a nonprofit educational and professional organization with more than 1,675 members across the United States and Asia. Founded in 1981, AAJA has been at the forefront of change in the journalism industry and furthering diversity in news media. AAJA’s mission is to provide a means of association and support among Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) journalists and to advance AAPI journalists as news managers and media executives; provide encouragement, information advice and assistance to AAPI students who aspire to professional journalism careers; provide the AAPI community with an awareness of news media and an understanding of how to gain fair access; and to research and point out when news media organizations stray from accuracy and fairness in the coverage of AAPIs and AAPI issues. AAJA is an alliance partner in UNITY Journalists, along with the Native American Journalists Association, National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. AAJA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, federal tax information number 95-3755203. For more information, visit www.aaja.org.

SAN FRANCISCO — This spring, the Jeremy Lin phenomenon reminded everyone of the importance of the Asian American Journalists Association as a resource to ensure fair, accurate and sensitive coverage of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. As the UNITY Journalists convention begins, AAJA is releasing a full update to our “Handbook to Covering Asian America.”

The handbook, first released in 2000, has been revised and includes dozens of additional entries offering guidance on the concerns of racial and ethnic groups. We explore stereotypes but, with explicit exceptions, we proscribe few words as slurs. In the most offensive cases, we precede the discussion with “avoid.” With some words, such as “Oriental,” we signal possible trouble with “caution.”

Above all, we have written this guide for journalists on deadline who are doing the best they can. Consult this guide so that journalism, and the journalists, will be better.

• AAJA Handbook on Covering Asian America: From “Alien” to “Yellow skin”
• Asian Cultural Calendar
• Additional Resources on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

To point out possibly unintended omissions or to suggest revisions, e-mail AAJA_guide@hotmail.com.

Media Contact: AAJA Executive Director Kathy Chow

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

The Asian American Journalists Association is a nonprofit professional and educational organization with more than 1,500 members across the United States and in Asia. Founded in 1981, AAJA has been at the forefront of change in the journalism industry. AAJA’s mission is to encourage Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) to enter the ranks of journalism, to work for fair and accurate coverage of AAPIs, and to increase the number of AAPI journalists and news managers in the industry. 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. For more information about AAJA, visit www.aaja.org.

Congratulations to the following AAJA Advisory Board members who were elected March 23, 2012, to two-year terms on the AAJA Governing Board, the decision-making body of the 1,400-member organization.

• Yvonne Leow of AAJA-Arizona (representing Small chapters)
• Jocelyn “Joz” Wang of AAJA-Los Angeles (representing Medium chapters)
• Paul Cheung of AAJA-New York (representing Large chapters)
• Tomoko Hosaka of AAJA-San Francisco/Bay Area (at-large Governing Board rep)
• Thomas Huang of AAJA-Texas (at-large Governing Board rep)
• Ellen Lee of AAJA-San Francisco/Bay Area (at-large Governing Board rep)

These six Governing Board members join AAJA’s five national officers as a deliberative group. AAJA’s officers are:

• President Doris Truong
• Vice President for Broadcast George Kiriyama
• Vice President for Print Thomas Lee
• Secretary Theodore Kim
• Treasurer Rene Astudillo.