"Chink" In Contra Costa Times Headline

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Contra Costa Times responds

Jan. 22, 2007

Kevin Keane, Executive Editor
Lisa Wrenn, Features Editor
Contra Costa Times
2640 Shadelands Dr.
Walnut Creek, CA 94598

Dear Mr. Keane and Ms. Wrenn:

We were mystified to see the offensive headline that accompanied the Jan. 13 centerpiece of the TimeOut section ("Chinks in Jack's armor").

Frankly, we don't know at whom to be more upset: The hedline writer who thought the double-entendre clever, or the editor(s) who gave it the seal of approval by doing nothing.

Did anyone stop and point out the word's status as a racial slur? Or raise questions of the word's potential to denigrate and ridicule an entire people -- there's no guessing, after all, what inspired the headline, when the fourth graf explicitly talks about Kiefer Sutherland's character suffering torture at the hands of the Chinese.

Founded in 1981, the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) is a non-profit professional and educational organization of 2,000 members with 19 chapters across the U.S. and one in Asia. The AAJA MediaWatch Committee promotes fair and accurate reporting of Asian American and Pacific Islanders.

We at AAJA are curious to hear how this error of judgment occurred. More importantly, we're eager to hear what has been done to prevent it from happening again.

Sincerely,

Abe Kwok
Co-Chair, AAJA MediaWatch Committee