AAJA Appalled by Colorado Campus Press Commentary Targeting Asians

AAJA was alerted to this commentary, which calls for Asians to be captured, dragged and hog-tied. Is it poor taste or satire? Add your COMMENTS.on the Members-Only AAJA Forum

AAJA's MediaWatch sent the following letter to the paper's editor and writer:

February 21, 2008

Cassie Hewlings, Editor-in-chief
Max Karson
The Campus Press
University of Colorado
1511 University Ave.
Armory 478 UCB
Boulder, CO 80309

Dear Cassie and Max:

We at the Asian American Journalists Association are appalled by your Feb. 18 commentary “If it’s war the Asians want” calling on students to round up and hog-tie Asian students. If the piece was meant to be satirical, it failed miserably. Your article perpetuates pejorative stereotypes and incites readers to treat Asian-American students as animals.

Connecting the dots from an encounter with a student of Asian descent at the gym to “And I say we start hating them back” is worse than irresponsible. Encouraged by similar screeds, the U.S. government interned Japanese Americans in World War II and robbed them of their civil rights. Mr. Karson’s piece also recalls the U.S. soldiers’ more recent treatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

Effective commentaries are based on reasoned, well-researched facts, not caricatures. Good journalists try to know something about the larger context of their reporting as well: Colorado became a predominantly white state after mass round-ups and lynchings of Chinese Americans, part of a national ethnic cleansing campaign against Asians, which included the torching of Denver's once-thriving Chinatown in the late 1800s.

Running these stories may garner attention for your publication in the short-term, but the sensationalism corrodes your publication’s reputation as a source of news and as a forum for debate at the University of Colorado. Worst of all, your decision to publish this piece undermines the efforts of your student journalists who are committed to fair and accurate reporting. It could harm their chances of seeking journalism careers.

We are heartened that former editors condemned the piece on your Web site and we appreciate that you printed an apology. But we hope this served as a valuable lesson. Freedom of the press isn’t free. The privilege of serving your campus community through journalism requires constant vigilance and respect for your readers.

Sincerely,

Jeanne Mariani-Belding
President

cc:

Paul Voakes
Dean, School of Journalism and Mass Communications