Convention Schedule

Experienced journalists and seasoned media professionals will train representatives of small non-profit organizations, mostly Asian American community groups, that don't have much experience dealing with and accessing the media. In this workshop, they'll work with journalists and media professionals on how to write an effective press release, how to pitch a story, and in an interactive session, how to do a television interview.

This is the launch of an AAJA national project: to conduct media access workshops like these at every national convention, and each chapter location, part of our goal and mission to establish and foster strong connection with the community. We will be distributing the first copies of Media Access Handbook, How to Get Your News in the News, to participants. After the training workshop, we'll hold a short, 30-minute session for AAJA members interested in duplicating the workshop in their local chapters. We'll be distributing copies of a short How To Manual, and walk you through producing a workshop.

Coordinator: Jessie Mangaliman, immigration writer, San Jose Mercury News

Funded by The New York Times

Does your career need a boost? Do you wish you had time to immerse yourself in a topic without deadline pressure? A mid-career journalism fellowship may be just what the doctor ordered! Listen to a panel of journalists describe their year as a journalism-fellow at Stanford, Harvard and the University of Michigan where they spent time in the company of other accomplished journalists. They will talk about their experiences during this year and how it recharged their batteries. Journalism fellows have gone on to important promotions and have won numerous awards and honors, including the Pulitzer Prize, Emmy and DuPont-Columbia.

Coordinator & Moderator: Birgit Rieck, program manager, Knight-Wallace Fellows at Michigan
Panelists: Fred de Sam Lazaro, correspondent, “The News Hour with Jim Lehrer,?? PBS, and executive producer, Twin Cities Public Television; Jeanne Mariani-Belding, editorial and opinion editor, Honolulu Advertiser; Edwin Chen, White House correspondent, Los Angeles Times

Sponsored and presented by Knight-Wallace Fellows at Michigan

What’s next for our newsrooms? We hear talk of vanishing newspapers, the reinvention of radio and TiVo takeover of television. During this session, panelists will discuss the world of discontinuous innovation that has resulted in entirely new-to-the-world products made to perform a function for which no product existed previously. They will show and tell about emerging technologies for story telling – including some compelling examples in multimedia formats. And, we’ll hear about management techniques for moving a newsroom forward (in the same direction) to tackle the challenges brought on by change.

Coordinator & Panelist: Chris Kelley, editor, DallasNews.com
Panelists: Deanna Sands, managing editor, Omaha World-Herald; Abe Kwok, online news editor, Azcentral.com

Presented by the Associated Press Managing Editors (APME)

In times of tight newsroom budgets and shrinking turn times, how do you get good investigations on the air? Hear from some of the best in the business and find out. The managing editor of the country’s longest running continuous I-Team will share his insight. Hear from an attorney/agent about how he advises clients what to do when news directors ask talent to turn investigations that might be questionable. Find out from a news director how he manages investigations and chooses which stories to send his team when budgets aren’t where they once were. See some examples of good investigations and bring plenty of questions for a very interactive panel. Plus, we’ll have a special surprise for you in the audience. This is one panel you won’t want to miss.

Coordinator & Moderator: Roshini Rajkumar, investigative reporter, WDIV-TV
Panelists: Don Shelby, main anchor and I-Team managing editor, WCCO-TV; Ross Eatman, attorney/agent, Eatman Media Services, Inc.; Mark Ginther, News Director - WHO-TV; Kristin Stinar, investigative reporter, KSTP

AAJA is about so much more than the yearly convention. Come find out about the secret and not-so-secret benefits of membership. Hint: Free trainings, free workshops, free programs and free events for students and professionals through your local chapters and at National. Oh yeah, and there will be free stuff for the first 100 who show up! Coordinators: Sonya Crawford, correspondent, ABC News; Matt Dunn, freelance television director; Richard Chang, arts and entertainment writer, The Orange County Register; Craig Gima, assistant city editor, Honolulu Star-Bulletin; Michael Hale, assistant editor, arts & leisure, The New York Times; Marsha Low, staff writer, Detroit Free Press; Ameet Sachdev, business reporter, Chicago Tribune; Ellen Sung, reporter, The News & Observer

Meeting of the members of the Korean American Journalists Association.

The Twin Cities is home to the nation's largest concentration of Hmong, a Southeast Asian ethnic minority that has come under close scrutiny recently in the media. It climaxed in November when a man from St. Paul was arrested for allegedly shooting eight deer hunters in Wisconsin, killing six. Months later, a political scandal involving a high-profile attorney in the St. Paul mayor's office broke, raising questions about an ambitious city project aimed at helping the Hmong community. How did the media handle ethnicity in stories involving the Hmong?

Hon. Mee Moua

Coordinators: Chao Xiong, staff writer, Star Tribune; Tom Lee, staff writer, Star Tribune
Moderator: Tom Lee, staff writer, Star Tribune Panelists: Mee Moua, state senator, Minnesota; Lee Pao Xiong, director, Center for Hmong Studies at Concordia University, St. Paul; John Daenzer, assistant news director, WCCO-TV; Duchesne Drew, St. Paul bureau team leader, Star Tribune; Martin Melendy, deputy metro editor, St. Paul Pioneer Press

A distinguished panel of editors talk about their rules for using anonymous sources, the fairness of using unnamed sources, the reader backlash against unknown sources, how to avoid them and how to use them most effectively to carry out our First Amendment responsibilities from city hall and the county courthouse to the White House.

Coordinator: Bobbi Bowman, diversity director, ASNE
Moderator: Milton Coleman, deputy managing editor, The Washington Post
Panelists: Len Downie, executive editor, The Washington Post; Ken Paulson, editor, USA TODAY; Lucy Dalglish, executive director, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

Presented by American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE)

Asian Americans often end up getting the morning shifts in their local TV markets. Are we unfairly relegated to the AM shows? What are the advantages and sacrifices that accompany such assignments?

Coordinator: Nina Bouphasavanh, morning reporter, WTEN-Albany, NY
Moderator: Maya Nishikawa, WCCO-Minneapolis, weekend reporter
Panelists: Angela Davis, KSTP-Minneapolis, morning/midday anchor; Nancy Loo, Fox-Chicago, 5 a.m./6 a.m. anchor/noon reporter; Betty Nguyen, CNN-Atlanta, anchor

Sponsored by CNN

Science and medicine is all over the news, from baseball’s steroid scandals to the final days of the Pope. Even glossy women’s magazines devote a section to health. But you don't have to be a science writer to cover the topic well. Our panel of top science writers explains how keeping an eye on trends in science and medicine can improve your coverage of any beat. They'll offer tips for handling statistics and other potential pitfalls, and also discuss careers in science writing.

Co-Coordinators: Aki Soga, news editor, The Burlington Free Press; Linda Wang, National Association of Science Writers
Moderator: Corinna Wu,producer, AAAS' Science Update radio program and 2005-06 Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT
Panelists: Charles Choi, freelance; Kenneth Chang, science writer, The New York Times; Lewis Cope, freelance science writer; Jeffrey B. Bender, DVM, MS, assistant professor of veterinary health, University of Minnesota

Presented by National Association of Science Writers

In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake off the coast of Indonesia that caused the massive devastation in Asia early this year, Western media outlets rushed to the scene to bring the story to viewers, readers and listeners back home. Reporters, some with close connection to the region, told not just heart-wrenching stories about loss but also held local and global political leaders accountable. But as with other tragedies, it didn't take long for the winds to shift and the media to pack up and move on. What has the media's record been in covering the tsunami and other tragedies? How does the media's response differ when covering natural vs. man-made disasters, sudden, fast-moving ones versus those that occur over years, like AIDS? What qualifies for the wall-to-wall disaster coverage and what characteristics determine how quickly the spotlight will fade from an issue? This panel of reporters, editors and media critics will grapple with these and other questions.

Coordinators: Fred de Sam Lazaro, correspondent, “The News Hour with Jim Lehrer", PBS, and executive producer, Twin Cities Public Television; Vikas Bajaj, business writer, The New York Times

Presented by the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA)

Been there. Done that. I've worked my way up, and now, I'm looking for the new challenge. What options do journalists have in their next life? Meet several reporters, writers and news managers who have all taken that next step! Hear what made them do it. Learn how they transitioned from successful journalism careers into the next phase of their lives. How does one research and pursue that next goal?

Coordinator & Moderator: Rose Tibayan, author of RESUMETAPEBOOK: The Job-Hunting Handbook for Television Journalists, and reporter at WISN-TV
Panelists: Ernest Sotomayor, former editor at Newsday, now director of career services for the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University; Ginger Cruz, former anchor/assistant news director with KUAM-TV, now chief of staff for the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction; Donovan Myrie, former news manager with WNBC-TV, now instructor at University of Tampa; Murali Balaji, former reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Wilmington News Journal, now author of a political biography of W.E.B. Du Bois and Paul Robeson; Evelyn Hsu, former reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle and The Washington Post, now program director for the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education

Spend money - support a scholarship. Check out this year's silent auction event where we'll have a selection of great items from a Foos Ball table, to satellite radio systems, lunches with executives, latest fashions and stunning photos. Proceeds support AAJA scholarships, internships and other national programs.

Sponsored by DaimlerChrysler Corporation

Whether you’re a first-year reporter for your local paper or the biggest thing in network news, you’ll have the chance to showcase your vocal talents at this event. Newcomers are welcome. Repeaters are expected.

Sponsored by Budweiser