By Jeff Yang, member, AAJA New York Chapter.
(December 12, 2006) -- It's dominated the blogosphere for days now, so you probably don't need a recap of "The View" host Rosie O'Donnell's "ching-chong" gaffe. But for those of you just now awakening from cryogenic suspension, here's what happened:
On November 29, actor Danny DeVito was a guest on The View, promoting his new holiday comedy "Deck the Halls." He'd apparently quaffed a little liquid stamina before coming on set; as the hosts discussed DeVito's bizarre three-martini performance the following week, O'Donnell joked that "it's news all over the world...you can imagine in China, it's like, 'Ching chong, ching chong, Danny DeVito, ching chong chong chong chong, drunk, 'The View,' ching chong.'"
Because billions of pixels have already flared with opinions about the gaffe, my primary aim in writing this is not to bury Rosie, nor to appraise her, but to discuss one of the more interesting results of her pied-a-bouche moment--a frank discussion within the ranks of our membership on the limits of our organization's mission to respond to offensive statements in the media. (Well, interesting to me, anyway.)
When the question of addressing O'Donnell's comments came up on AAJA's mailing list, some members were adamant that her statements didn't fall within the organization's mandate.
"I think we have to be careful on figuring out our role as media monitors from a journalism organization," said one response. "Comments like this may tick us off as Asians, and they might very well merit a response, but is it the role of AAJA or another Asian watchdog group?...perceptions and stereotypes from t-shirts and shoes to movies and commentaries, as offensive as they are--I don't know if they fall particularly within the crosshairs of what AAJA was/is designed to do."
Others noted that O'Donnell's statement wasn't referring to Asian Americans, but rather, commentators in China. "The cast of 'The View" is talking about how the drunken DeVito appearance was 'news all over the world' and that 'you can imagine in China' people talking...no disparagement of Asian Americans as foreigners"--going on to say that "we have to pick and choose [our battles] or people will think we're overreacting."
This concern over appearing thin-skinned was echoed by other members. "[Comedian Michael Richards'] blow up was a racist rant. Rosie just delivered a joke poorly," went another response. "Of all the offenses issued to Asian folks daily, I'm not so sure we want to rally around this flag."
"I agree...this one is not as racist as Kramer's," a followup post agreed. "Two wrongs don't make a right."
What did this debate highlight? Well, on this very website, it's stated that part of AAJA's mission is to "address issues of unfair and inaccurate news media coverage about Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders." But this objective stands on increasingly shifting sand. As this conversation showed, the question is no longer just what's "unfair" or "inaccurate"; it's what's "news," what's "coverage," and, for that matter, what are you referring to when you say "Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders"?
The fact is, the line between reporting and entertaining has been blurring for a long time: Julie Chen hosts "Big Brother," Meredith Vieira emcees "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," and Jon Stewart and "The Daily Show" have been celebrated for their you've-got-chocolate-in-my-peanut-butter hybridization of news and satire with Peabody Awards and public acclaim. And while O'Donnell is a comedian, not a journalist, she's cohost of a program that stars and is executive produced by Barbara Walters, whose official ABC bio makes a point of stating that she "remains an active member of the news division."
So, too, has the boundary between "Asian" and "Asian American"; in the age of CNN and the Internet, all news is international, and false or defamatory depictions of Asians overseas automatically reflect on and impact Asians in the U.S.
Given this, it was curious to see this internal controversy over what amounted to our right to address the situation. It left me wondering whether there would have been the same resistance within the National Association of Black Journalists had O'Donnell used pseudo-African gibberish instead. And would the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association have remained silent if a View host had broken out in an exaggerated lisp while referencing the gay community? We can assume O'Donnell herself would have protested, given her lambasting of Kelly Ripa's far more innocuous words to Clay Aiken.
Asian Americans have been stereotyped for too long as socially passive, as silent victims, as a group unwilling or unable to speak out on our own behalf. Though as individuals, we may be restrained from commenting because of ethical codes or institutional politics, as an organization, we have the means and the authority to offer a collective response-one that can certainly be designed to inform rather than reprimand. Ours is not a group that should call for protests or boycotts. But ours is an organization that is ideally placed to dispel stereotypes, and to help others build true and authentic pictures of our communities.
And we need to accept that responsibility. When mouthed by a prominent media figure on a major network program, even schoolyard mockery has repercussions. At the least, O'Donnell's words suggested a condescending attitude toward other cultures that's exemplary of the most cringeworthy aspects of the "ugly American" stereotype. At worst, they provided air cover for more corrosive acts of discrimination against non-English-speakers, many of them belonging to our most vulnerable groups: Senior citizens, recent immigrants, and refugees.
To our credit, we did ultimately respond--even offering to "make [AAJA's] resources available to ensure that both news and entertainment media always remain cautious about the use of sensitive or derogatory material in their broadcasts."
It was a responsible statement, metered and proportionate. In the future, we should never hesitate to speak in similar fashion. Because our mission isn't just to advocate, it's to educate. I'll tell you what would have been an ideal addendum to our response: A printout of the New York Times's article on the rising interest non-Asians are showing in learning Chinese. Ironically, the article came out on November 29, the same day of DeVito's appearance on the View--presumably, O'Donnell was so distracted by Danny's drunken antics that she missed it.
Americans are learning Chinese--real Chinese, not gibberish--because they understand that it's a critical asset for a future in which China looms large. And as for the Chinese? They're learning English. As British finance minister Gordon Brown noted on his recent trip to China, "By 2025 the number of English-speaking Chinese is likely to exceed the number of native English speakers in the rest of the world."
Situations like this give us a ripe opportunity to draw attention to news items like these--critical, eye-opening facts about the changing world in which we live. And isn't that, ultimately, our job as journalists?
Jeff Yang is an AAJA member of the New York Chapter. He is also the recipient of the 2006 AAJA National Journalism Awards for the category of online journalism, unlimited subject matter.
AAJA Responds to Rosie O'Donnell's Offensive Mimic
About Fresh View
The views expressed in this column are solely those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect those of AAJA. For consideration as the next columnist, current AAJA members are invited to e-mail mediawatch@aaja.org.
