2009 AAJA National Elections

PAUL CHEUNG

Friends, I am humbled by the task before us. Our industry is weakened by shrinking revenue and declining circulation. Jobs have been lost and newspapers are closing.

Starting now, we must begin remaking our industry. As your vice president, I promise to work with you on bold and innovative solutions. We will act to create stability in our industry and lay a foundation for growth.

We shall build a searchable AAJA membership database for employers looking for job candidates and freelancers. We will partner with other journalism groups, foundations, and media companies to develop webinars, programs and resources that will continuously expand our skill sets to meet new challenges ahead. We must assure the next generation of journalists that there is no limit to their future.

I am ready to take on these tasks as your vice president. As a manager at The Miami Herald, an ELP graduate, a convention co-chair in Miami, a national board representative, I have a track record of success, creativity and innovation.

With perseverance and ingenuity, we will continue to tell great stories of our community, our city, our nation and our world.

Come and join me on my facebook fan page at http://bit.ly/eVZZ9 and twitter pcheung630.

Paul Cheung currently serves on the AAJA Governing Board and is the AAJA Florida Chapter representative on the National Advisory Board. Paul is deputy multimedia presentation editor with The Miami Herald.

JANET H. CHO

The critics would have us believe that print journalists are an endangered species, that our demise is not only imminent, but inevitable.

Yet in the face of so much industry turmoil, I for one have never been more convinced of how much we need AAJA. As our economy sputters along, as corporate greed and corruption run rampant, as a strange new virus threatens global health, our roles as reporters, watchdog journalists, and trusted sources of information have never been more crucial.

For 28 years, we have always been an extended family, and we will survive this crisis together. We will equip our members with the latest technology, we will train the next generation of newsroom leaders, and for those aspiring to be entrepreneurs, we will help you reinvent yourselves.

My fellow Vice President talks about how he sometimes puts his hand on his photographer’s back to reassure him that it’s safe to back up and it’s OK to keep shooting.

I think that’s a perfect metaphor for AAJA, because no matter what happens, we’ve always got your back.

Please join me at the Boston Convention to reconnect, inspire one another, and write the next chapter of AAJA’s story.

Janet H. Cho currently serves as National Vice President for Print. Janet is business reporter with The Plain Dealer.

DORIS TRUONG

I’ve been your national secretary since 2008, so many of you already know me. I’ve kept you updated through social media on important issues facing Asian American journalists, such as the detention of colleagues overseas. I have advocated for you on the national level, pushing for transparency throughout the organization, and I have done my part by providing detailed minutes of board meetings.

With more than half of my term behind me, the role of secretary is almost second nature, so I can help AAJA in other ways: by representing your needs on the UNITY board, for example, and ensuring that we have a voice in the media hub that is Washington. I will continue to look for new partnerships with groups whose missions match ours, and I will help promote potential sources of financial support.

I have led many of AAJA’s forward-thinking discussions, including helping people to recognize that a multimedia world means we can dispense with track-based sessions, which we did during the Miami convention two years ago.

I welcome your ideas in a time of monumental industry changes. Now, more than ever, AAJA needs someone who is nimble, responsive and reliable.

Reelect Doris: She delivers.

Doris Truong currently serves as National Secretary. Doris is copy editor, Style, with The Washington Post.

FRANK WITSIL

Though our industry’s future seems perilous, we are surrounded by inspiration.

There is: The Florida editor forced to take a pay cut, but still rallies his staff; the Seattle writer whose 146-year-old newspaper closes and begins a media company, and the laid-off AAJA board member from New York who, as she leaves, convinces one of her company’s executives to donate to AAJA once more.

As secretary, I aim to keep us connected by:

• Engaging current and lapsed members,
• Encouraging journalists working in ethnic media and Canada to join,
• Enhancing relationships with other journalism groups.

AAJA has given me mentors and friends. It has helped me
become a better journalist, leader and father.

I have insight from my work at the Detroit Free Press and my service as a governing board member and co-chair of a national endowment event, convention programming and a national convention. I have learned our strongest asset is hope; and through the Executive Leadership Program, that power of love overcomes love of power.

No one should have to endure difficulties alone. We must let go of what holds us back, yet cling to our values. As we do, we become the inspiration.

Frank Witsil currently serves on the AAJA Governing Board and is the AAJA Michigan Chapter representative on the National Advisory Board. Frank is copy editor with the Detroit Free Press.