AAJA Unveils Five-Year Strategic Plan
March 22, 2004
Media Contact:
Janice Lee
Deputy Executive Director. AAJA
415-346-2051, ext. 110
janicel@aaja
San Francisco- The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) today unveils its five-year strategic plan that focuses on strengthening relationships with the media industry and the Asian American community as well as financial stability for the organization.
The plan hones in on four areas -- providing more training to Asian American journalists so they can be effective leaders and agents of positive change in the industry; forging better ties with Asian American communities; developing greater expectations and skills of AAJA's national and chapter leaders and staff; and finding ways for the organization to be more financially sound.
The strategic plan, a year in the making, followed extensive dialogues AAJA had internally and with journalism leaders and non-profit organizations that have supported the organization in its 24 years of existence. The plan is all the more important as AAJA is coming off a year of record growth in membership and programming.
"AAJA is a rapidly growing organization meeting the varying and changing needs of its members, the industry and the Asian American community," said Mae Cheng, AAJA president and an assistant city editor at Newsday. "This strategic plan will be a roadmap to ensure AAJA's growth and success for many more years to come and will allow the organization to seek a greater, more visible role as an advocate and ambassador of journalism excellence."
The strategic plan also stays true to AAJA's founding mission, chiefly to encourage more people of Asian descent to enter the field of journalism and to foster better understanding and coverage of Asian Americans and their communities.
Efforts of the strategic plan are already under way, including refining AAJA's MediaWatch, designed to monitor unfair or inaccurate coverage of the Asian and Asian American community in the United States and developing programs aimed at mid-career journalists and those seeking to rise in the ranks of the profession. Later on this year, AAJA will also be unveiling a historic campaign to help ensure the future financial stability of the organization.
Rene Astudillo, AAJA executive director, said that "the core of this strategic plan is to position AAJA as a dynamic leader in pushing for needed changes that would ensure greater Asian American representation in newsrooms and in news coverage. More importantly, it lays the groundwork for developing the needed organizational and financial resources to help achieve these changes."
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About AAJA
AAJA is a non-profit organization with approximately 2,000 members. With a history spanning over 20 years, AAJA has been at the forefront of change in the journalism industry. Our mission is to encourage Asian Pacific Americans to enter the ranks of journalism, to work for fair and accurate coverage of Asian Pacific Americans, provide support and a network for Asian Pacific Americans in journalism and to increase the number of Asian Pacific American journalists and news managers in the industry.
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