Featured Stories

Special report: Examining the state of AAJA’s finances

August 7, 2010 by aajavoices

RELATED: Mixed reation to Chapter donation quota

AAJA heading toward balanced budget

By Elizabeth Gyori
Voices

AAJA’s budget may be back to black following a tough 2009.

After closing with a $207,000 deficit, officials said, the governing board and the national AAJA office instituted aggressive measures – some unprecedented – to balance the budget.

“We are moving toward a brighter future,” said Executive Director Kathy Chow. “This is a great sign that even in the end of deficit from last year, we were able to pay off our deficit with interest already.”

Although national officials said Friday there is currently no deficit, the governing board refused to release how much AAJA has raised thus far until today’s National Advisory Board meeting.

Last year, AAJA borrowed $154,000 from the endowment to cover the shortfall. The loan was paid back in full, with interest, said National Treasurer Candace Heckman, totaling $160,000.

One of the measures used to ensure fiscal stability was asking individual
chapters to contribute money to the national office. Several chapters contributed more money than asked for and
were happy to help out.

Ameet Sachdev, president of the Chicago group, said the decision to give the national office more was not a difficult one. The chapter contributed
$5,000.

“I think that if (chapters) are not using those funds for the local activities, then they should give back to national,” Sachdev said.

Another major change was starting a fundraising policy that allows AAJA to accept money from companies outside the traditional media industry.

And as media outlets evolved, AAJA officials revamped the parameters.
For practical purposes, the definition of media funding sources has broadened to include not only companies such as NBC, but also Microsoft, which creates
new media enterprises.

Furthermore, AAJA can now accept money from any company that
share’s AAJA’s diversity mission. Government and in-kind donations – goods and services given by companies – can add to the coffers as well.

“I think we have a good balance of being able to protect our members
from conflicts of interest, but still seek the funders we need,” Heckman said.

Other changes also have added up to a projected balanced budget. For instance, the national AAJA office in San Francisco will be moving from Market Street to the Hearst Building. National President Sharon Chan said the move will save the organization $35,000 in rent expenses.

AAJA also switched from Bank of America to the Bank of San Francisco because of lower credit-card fees. The Bank of San Francisco also gave AAJA a line of credit.

But Chan emphasized that the national office is waiting to see how the convention ends before celebrating. Typically, the annual convention funds half of AAJA’s operating expenses and with last year’s loss officials hope to break even in Los Angeles.

“We had the worst crisis in our organization last year, but it’s history and we’ve shepherded AAJA through it,” Chan said.

Find Elizabeth on Twitter @LizGyori

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Featured Stories

Detroit a compelling backdrop for 2011 convention

August 6, 2010 by aajavoices

By Elizabeth Gyori and Eunice Kim
Voices

Once known as the premier automotive center of the world, Detroit is now what some call “ground zero of the Asian American movement” – making it an ideal backdrop to the annual AAJA Convention.

The AAJA Michigan Chapter is slated to host the 2011 convention next summer in the state’s largest city after a compelling presentation that won it the bid over New York.

Joe Grimm, a longtime Detroit journalist who spent 25 years with the Detroit Free Press, expects the convention to be “very insightful, educational, uplifting, and thought-provoking.”

Detroit’s unique place in the Asian American movement begins with the hate-crime murder of Vincent Chin in 1982. The Chinese American draftsman was murdered by two American autoworkers after they mistakenly assumed that he was Japanese and blamed him for the loss of American auto jobs to the Japanese car industry.

After Chin’s death, the Asian-American community in Detroit banded together to support each other in the face of racism and discrimination, sparking the Pan-Asian movement in the United States.

Frank Witsil, co-chair of the 2011 convention, believes there are a number of incidents – from the murder of Chin in the 1980s to the dying auto industry and the 9/11 terrorist attacks – that have “galvanized communities nationwide and sparked a series of changes in laws” that have united several minority groups like Arab Americans.

“AAJA has had a long and rich history with the Arab American journalists beginning with the formation of the original Detroit chapter in 1988,” said former AAJA Dallas Chapter president Esther Wu. “Members of the (chapter) reached out to this diverse community to make sure their voices were heard and that they were afforded fair and equal coverage. In turn, I believe this visibility helped attract a number of journalists of Middle Eastern descent to join AAJA.”

Detroit Arab-Americans followed the footsteps of the Asian American population in Detroit after widespread racism and discrimination developed following the 9/11 attacks. This trend is what made the anniversary of 9/11 a pertinent issue for the Detroit bid.

“The 9/11 anniversary was a factor. As much as the New York Chapter said it was their issue, it was our issue, too,” Witsil said.

Ankur Dholakia, the convention’s other co-chair, said that there are a multitude of innovative programs flourishing in Detroit – from the development of Arab-American journalism in Detroit to the Executive Leadership Program Media Demonstration Project that teaches journalism to seventh graders.

“Our motto is ‘Time to Engage,’ ” Dholakia said. “Engaging minds, engaging different opportunities in journalism.”

With so many possibilities, even New York members are eager for the event.

“We’re all very supportive of it … we’re excited about going there,” said Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, author and freelance journalist who helped lead New York City’s 2011 bid.

The convention will also celebrate AAJA’s 30th anniversary, a milestone that AAJA’s Executive Director Kathy Chow is thrilled to honor.

“A lot of organizations go through a lot of turbulence and stuff and 30 years is a huge opportunity to celebrate the excitement of what has happened in our history,” Chow said.

Keeping the wallets of struggling journalists in consideration, AAJA officials said the inexpensive appeal of Detroit was another major factor in the selection process.

The Detroit Convention and Visitors Bureau offered AAJA $10,000 to host the convention in the city, a cost-lowering benefit that New York didn’t offer.

“Coming out of college, I have to look at my finances and check whether or not I have the wherewithal to go to Detroit,” said Cheng Sio, who attended the AAJA Convention for the first time in Los Angeles.

And with room rates $100 lower in Detroit compared to New York’s lowest room rate of $274, cost may be the largest deciding factor for others like Sio.

“It’s a cool, international city (with) a great music scene, it’s a travel bargain, and there’s this really interesting Arab-American community right there,” Grimm said. “I think it’ll be a really pleasant surprise for a lot of AAJA members.”

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Featured Stories

ABC’s of the American Dream: Asian women spell out success

Issue of race can also be a hovering cloud of doubt. Does it matter? Does it hurt?

August 6, 2010 by aajavoices

Mei-Mei Chan

Mei-Mei Chan during a conference call. (AAJA Voices Staff/Vivian Wong)

By Angela Chen
Voices

In second grade, 7-year-old Mei-Mei Chan got F’s on her spelling tests.

The world of English was oceans away from her childhood in Canton, China. And in this, her struggle began in spelling the word “alphabet” with an alphabet that wasn’t her own.

But her linguistic struggles are long gone. Now a journalism giant, she is the quintessential example of the American Dream and upward mobility.

Chan, the president and publisher of The News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla., is one of three panelists who talked shop at AAJA’s “Stories of Success” presentation on Thursday. She joined Mi-Ai Parrish, publisher of the Idaho Statesman, and Jeannie Park, former executive editor of People magazine, in a talk-show style chat about career struggles.

Parrish and Chan are two of only three Asian American mainstream media publishers in the nation, according to Jinah Kim, a reporter for NBC News who moderated the talk. Parrish is the only Korean-American publisher of major U.S. paper.

Kim’s questions ranged from politics to lifestyle balance and battling stereotypes.

“The magic of America is something never to take for granted,” Chan said. “America is the land of opportunity, the golden mountain…  we have an obligation to give back.”
Chan is a firm believer in the American Dream, and why not? Her life’s work affirms its effectiveness.

All panelists agreed that hard work is an inextricable part of the equation in rising through the ranks. Unfortunately, U.S. society is not a meritocracy, and hard work alone will not get you where you want to go, according to Chan.

“Thinking I’m going to do the best and it’s going to speak for itself — that’s not always the case,” Chan said. “Power and politics are a way of life, and you have to be attuned to the nuances along the way.”

Those nuances were not lost on Park during her career.

“Hey, Jeannie,” Kim said, while the panel was discussing politics, “Tell the people here your ‘F you’ story.”

Park laughed, the audience shifted eagerly, and the former editor explained. At an old job with a “contentious atmosphere” and combative morning meetings, Park was one of few who didn’t engage in the nastiness.

“I was actively looking for ways to make an impression,” Park said. “So my boss stopped me one day and said ‘You know everybody’s always fighting and yelling but you get the job done and you’re still really nice.”

Park mulled that comment over on the way back to her computer, and after a while, decided to send her boss an email.

“I sent an email with the message, ‘I just don’t want you to think I’m that nice,’ in the body,” Park said. “And in the subject line, I wrote ‘F— you.’”

Her boss called a minute later and laughed about the email with her. The email made its point, and it elicited the right response because Park knew her audience.

Kim asked next about balance and constant tug-of-war between family and work.

“You can’t have it all,” Parrish said. This job’s not for everyone. I don’t sleep a ton.”

Park agreed: “I dealt with it every stage of my life, and when kids came along, all that went out the window. But you know, I became efficient as a mom. I got in, knew what I was doing — none of that hallway yakking!”

The issue of race can also be a hovering cloud of doubt. Does it matter? Does it hurt? Benefit? It can be easy to blame race for not getting the job or promotion you want, and it would be naïve to discount it. However, it’s important to avoid pouncing to that factor whenever something undesirable happens.

“Know that the world’s not out to get you,” said Parrish. The Korean-American publisher, who’s been erroneously pegged as Mexican many times, pointed out that ignorance is not malicious. “They just don’t know any better,” she said.

In the hour-and-a-half with this half-circle of power, the women were full of enthusiasm and anecdotes. Tips suggested Asians be a louder part of the conversation and encouraged bold moves designed to make ears perk and eyes pop — but to never forget to be self-aware and self-assessing on the way to the topl.

- @angelawchen

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Featured Stories

Q&A with Laura Ling: After North Korea ordeal, focus is on family

August 6, 2010 by aajavoices

By Candice Nguyen
Voices

From her imprisonment and harsh sentencing to the birth of her first child, Laura Ling has had quite a year.

In 2009, Ling was on assignment in North Korea with Euna Lee when she was captured and detained for crossing the Chinese/North Korean border. Since her rescue, Ling has enjoyed being home with her husband and newborn baby, “Li,” named after her sister, Lisa.

Ling, who will be the keynote speaker at Saturday’s Scholarship and Awards Banquet at the AAJA Convention, spoke to Voices about her ordeal and her future.

Did your experience in North Korea compel you to have a baby?

(My husband and I) actually started trying to have a baby just before I left for North Korea, and at one point when I was there in captivity, I actually thought I was pregnant. It was extremely frightening and I thought, “Maybe I wanted to be pregnant.” I wanted to have this little being inside of me. I know that sounds cruel in that situation, but I was so lonely and desperate. I thought, “I may never have this opportunity again.”

I understand you are not with Current TV anymore. Do you plan to report again? If so, how will your experience affect your work?

I definitely miss it, but right now, it’s important to balance work and home life given what happened. In the future, I will probably stay closer to home. I’m hesitant to jump on a plane and go far away. That may happen in the future. Then again, there are so many stories at home that go unnoticed that need to be covered. There are a couple of things I’m looking at right now, but I’m taking my time.

There’s been an evolution of one-man-bands and video journalists. How do you think this will affect news?

We already are seeing the disintegration of big bureaus. I think it’s sad. I think it’s harder to make a decent living in this line of work. In terms of one-man band, I also see a great advantage – the ability to access things is easier when you’re lean and mean. You’re less assuming.

What are some precautions new reporters going abroad should know?

You should never go into a situation when you haven’t done the proper research – when you haven’t spoken to people on the ground well before embarking on your story.

What are some challenges you faced abroad?

As a foreign journalist going into these international situation, we often hire translators, or “fixers.” That’s what (Euna and I) did when we were at the China/North Korea border. We also put a lot of trust on these guides because we assume they know the situation and that they’ve worked with other journalists in the past. That can be tricky because you’re trusting someone you don’t really know.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell AAJA?

I just want to thank the AAJA community for coming out to support Euna and me during our captivity. I was well aware of the support that was taking place here at home. It meant the world to me. It helped me mentally get through that, and I think it contributed to me being home. I want to thank the community and let them know how grateful I am.

Find Candice on Twitter @candinguyen

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Ron Brown’s powerful persuasion will be missed by ELP

August 6, 2010 by aajavoices

Ron Brown

Ron Brown is stepping down after 15 years as a trainer for the Executive Leadership Program.

By Vivian Wong
Voices

Ron Brown has devoted the last 40 years persuading corporate America to believe what he holds to be true: diversity is a business priority.

“Many corporations have learned how to gain benefits from pulling for similarities, but they are just beginning to see the strengths of using differences and the different backgrounds that people bring,” Brown said.

A company must utilize all its strengths, he says. Making them realize that diversity is one of them, however, is the trick.

Brown, a leader and innovator in diversifying businesses, is a management consultant and public speaker. He is the founder and president of Banks Brown, a San Francisco-based management development firm that evolved from another organization he founded, Pacific Management Systems. He recently stepped down as an Executive Leadership Program trainer for AAJA after 15 years.

Some companies, like Avon Products Inc. in New York, had no difficulty learning the lesson of diversity as an element for business success. Working as a consultant, Brown saw the company’s flat sales and advised it to consider diversity as a critical part of developing a corporate plan. Making diversity a strategic intent allowed Avon to return to aggressive sales results.

Procter & Gamble was Brown’s first taste of corporate America in the 1970s. There he picked up the tools he would later use in his seminars on power, leadership and achievement. Since then, he’s worked with major corporations such as McDonald’s, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Eastman Kodak, Arthur Andersen, General Mills, Shell Oil, and Reebok International.

Brown received his doctorate in psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. He trained to be a psychotherapist up until working with Procter & Gamble, where he found his passion. Though he never went back to pursue psychotherapy, his background in psychology laid down the foundation for his career in consulting. He explained, “Psychology is understanding how people work together, get along, and interact to get results. (Similarly), organizations are about relationships, a lot of individual personalities working together effectively.”

Dinah Eng, the founder of ELP, asked Brown early on to share his wisdom with the AAJA community as an ELP trainer. “He would always come up with a great view of how to deal with people’s fears and anxiety,” she says. “He just has a great understanding of human nature that I really appreciate.”

Brown understands the diversity of his audience. He has taught more than 25,000 managers. “I’m very aware of how to teach (the seminar) in a way that responds to different cultural perspectives, because each culture has a different response to the same material,” he said.

For example, he says, Asian Americans have cultural expressions that portray power as something that needs to be deserved or earned a cultural perspective about power or leadership that may not be true in many organizations.

Jeannie Park, an ELP facilitator and colleague, recalls sitting in on his sessions. “He reminds you that things are never quiet, that you can never rest at work,” she says. “Even if things seem to be going well, even if you’re happy, there are always things you can be doing to help yourself down the road. I’ll literally hear Ron’s voice in my ear.”

Not only are his lessons invaluable, but his charisma makes the lessons unforgettable, she says. “I don’t know if he wins over 100 percent of the people, but 100 percent are stimulated intellectually by what he’s saying even if they don’t necessarily agree. He’s so dynamic, you have to think about it.”

Persistence describes Brown’s attitude, as well as “straightforward, humorous, direct, honest, and tough love,” he says.

People, Brown says, is why he thoroughly enjoys his job: “I’ve met a lot of people along the way. I had a chance to work inside some of the largest most powerful corporate institutions, and I’ve had a unique access to many leaders. It’s really been a rewarding, interesting, and challenging career.”

Find Vivian on Twitter @vtwong

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Featured Stories

ELP icons step down

As program pioneers Lloyd LaCuesta, Dinah Eng and Ron Brown exit, what's next? ELP evolves over 15 years, but basics of leadership remain the same

August 5, 2010 by aajavoices
Executive Leadership Program

Executive Leadership Program

Related:
Dinah Eng: True tears
Ron Brown: Powerful persuasion

By Eva Dou
Voices
When a Fox Broadcasting executive came to talk to graduates of AAJA’s Executive Leadership Program on Tuesday, one of the first questions he got was: “Did you ever take a pay cut for more responsibility?”

“Absolutely,” replied Todd Yasui, Fox senior vice president for late night programming. Empathetic nods rippled through the room.

Many in the audience had agonized over similar decisions: It’s these common struggles to climb the ladder that drew them together.

Since Dinah Eng founded it in 1995, ELP has been AAJA’s program for mid-career journalists looking to become leaders in the newsroom. The program teaches skills include navigating office politics, understanding corporate culture and becoming a self-promoter.

The specific workings of the program are shrouded from outsiders. Facilitators are wary about revealing all their tricks and won’t discuss their participants in detail, because discussions can get highly personal and are treated as confidential.

But according to participants and facilitators, ELP is nothing short of life-changing. Many ELP graduates go on to get raises or promotions. Many have become AAJA leaders – both candidates for AAJA national president this year are ELP graduates.

There are some who, after the soul-searching of ELP, decide to leave the journalism industry.

Lloyd LaCuesta, former AAJA president and long-time ELP facilitator, said the program is even more important today as budget cuts shrink opportunities for promotion. In an indication of the times, LaCuesta said fewer companies were covering their employees’ costs to come to the program, but participants were still coming and paying out of pocket.

The program itself has not changed significantly over the years, said Eng, who started ELP when she was AAJA president. As an editor at Gannett, Eng was the first AAJA president to have news leadership experience.

“I was very fortunate throughout my career to have mentors who taught me how to move to the next level,” Eng said. “I wanted to share that knowledge.”

The program teaches participants leadership and networking skills and also delves into the clash between Asian culture and Western boardrooms. In traditional Asian culture, younger people are supposed to stay quiet, learn and listen, Eng said, while at American meetings, they’re expected to actively participate, lest they be seen as timid or inattentive.

Other key points in ELP are learning to network and understanding the corporate structure.

“I think the most important thing people learn is that every organization is political,” said Boston WHDH-TV/NBC anchor Janet Wu, a 1998 ELP participant. “You have to learn that and understand that in order to succeed.”

Over the years, ELP has seen an increase in multiracial participants, which has put a new perspective on the program’s discussions of racial identity, Eng said. Discussion topics have also changed from year to year depending on the state of the industry.

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Featured Stories

Follow our Tweople!

August 5, 2010 by aajavoices

Voices is hosting a reception and Tweetup 5 p.m. Thursday in the convention newsroom, Beechwood Hall. Come and meet the Voices staff and some of our friends.

John Bracken, Director of New Media, Knight Foundation; @jsb

Joe Grimm, visiting editor, Michigan State University; @Jobspage

Annalisa Burgos, Senior Editor, Real Estate HGTV’s Frontdoor.com; @annalisaburgos

Katherine Lewis, Freelancer; @KatherineLewis

Albert Kim, TV Writer/Producer; @MagicBranch

Harry Lin, President & CEO, Photometria Inc.; @SuluPrime

Christine Lee, General Assignment Reporter, KPNX – 12 News, Phoenix; @mschristine_lee

Melissa Mecija, Video Journalist, KCBS/KCAL; @melissamecija

Bernice Yeung, Hyphen magazine co-founder/board chair and freelance journalist; @bmyeung

Diana Nguyen and Jen Wang, Bloggers, Disgrasian.com; @disgrasian

Cynthia Wang, Assistant Editor, People; @peowang

Monica Showalter, Editorial Writer, Investor’s Business Daily; @mmshowalter1

John J. Pitney, Jr, Roy P. Crocker Professor of American Politics, Claremont McKenna College; @jpitney

Wasim Ahmad, Assistant Professor, School of Journalism, StonyBrook University; @wasimonline

Laura Yuen, Minnesota Public Radio; @laurayuen_mpr

Ko Im, Videojournalist, WBOC; @konakafe

Yvonne Leow, West Regional Video Producer, The Associated Press; @YvonneReports

Seth Liss, Online Content Editor, Sun Sentinel; @sliss33

Caroline Kim, Web Producer, Yahoo Finance; @c_kim

Justin Osofsky, Facebook Developer Network; @josofsky

Chrys Wu, User Engagement Strategist, Matchstrike; @MacDivaONA

Anna Robertson, Director of social media and multimedia, Yahoo! news; @annarobertson

Julie Wildhaber, Professional Development Program Manager, Yahoo!; @YahooStyleGuide

Kate Marymont, Vice President/News, U.S. Community Publishing, Gannett; @Katemary

Bill Church, executive editor, Statesman Journal in Salem, Ore.; @BillChurch_SJ

Andrew Pergam, Editorial Director, J-Lab; @pergam

David Sarno, Staff Writer, The Los Angeles Times; @dsarno

Jon Healey, Editorial Writer, The Los Angeles Times; @jcahealey

Jeff Reiffman, Founder, NewsCloud; @reifman

Hong Qu, Design Consultant; @hqu

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Dinah Eng: True tears

August 5, 2010 by aajavoices

Dinah Eng

After 15 years at the helm, Dinah Eng is stepping down this year as leader of AAJA's Executive Leadership Program.

By Van Tieu
Voices

The box of tissues is ready in her hand as Dinah Eng makes her way to the podium for her last Executive Leadership Program Summit luncheon.

For 15 years, she has mentored and inspired hundreds of journalists — not only to achieve success in executive positions, but to live their lives with meaning and impact. And now, having announced she is stepping down this year as leader of ELP, she knows full well that her emotions will likely take over.

“I’ve come prepared,” Eng jokes to the crowd, holding up the tissues.

Tears have become somewhat of a defining characteristic of Eng, founder of the ELP, which teaches mid-career Asian American journalists how to advance their careers.

Owen Lei, an ELP alumni describes Eng and her program this way: “Blood, sweat and tears- with an emphasis on the tears.”

But with the jokes, ELP graduates are equally quick to say that those tears come from a genuine and compassionate source — a strong sense of love that makes up this woman known as “Mother Eng.”

“I always thought that the crying at ELP was annoying,” says Ti-Hua Chang, a 2005 ELP alum, “but with Dinah, you know it’s real. You can cut Dinah, and you’ll find, at her core, pure compassion.”

She’s always been that way, he says. Eng and Chang were classmates at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in 1977.

He remembers her as a Texas country girl arriving in New York with a bee-hive hair-do style that was two decades past its time.

One incident stands out in particular. Her professor recognized her talent early on and put her on-air for CBS. Eng says she doesn’t remember this, but Chang recalls other students being envious and even mean to her.

“It never bothered her,” Chang says, recalling the compassion she held even then for others. “Dinah was never bitter.”

Over the years, Eng has brought that same life philosophy to her ELP sessions: To live positively. To never judge. To be strong enough to tune in and communicate your emotions.

As the ELP luncheon draws to a close this Wednesday afternoon, alumni, past mentees and fellow ELP trainers flock to Eng for photos. Each snapshot looks like a family photo with Mother Eng’s hands on mentee’s shoulders.

With Eng’s schedule even busier than ever at AAJA this year, my scheduled interview with her turns into a walk-and-talk conversation as I help her take bags to her car.  Even that, however, proves challenging, as she navigates a gauntlet of hugs and thank yous with me in tow. I watch as many alumni linger in their hugs. Some use both hands to softly, even protectively, grasp Eng’s hand to hold it.

Twenty minutes later, I am at last alone with Eng. We stuff her bags into her car trunk. And after witnessing the sincerity of her ELP family, I feel like I finally understand everything people have been telling this week about Eng and the inspiration she has been.

Now the main question that remains for me to ask is the one so many alumni have also posed over the past week: Why is she leaving?

It’s plain and simple, Eng says. “I’m just tired” she says with a laugh.

With her newfound time, she plans to spend more time with family, start new projects, and even write a movie script inspired by her “oddball imagination.”

I tell her she’s like the mother bird letting her chick spread its wings.

“Yes,” she says. And I see she’s not looking at me anymore. For a moment in the parking lot — after a long day spent with the people she’s devoted her life to helping — she seems to transport back into the past, reliving memories of the past 15 years.

“I’m so thankful for the trainers…,” she begins to say.

Her eyes start to well up and her voice trembles as we stand there next to her small red sedan. She stops herself for a second, and a tissue materializes in her hand.

Gently dabbing it to her nose, Eng tries to explain, “People always say I cry a lot, but I don’t think so.”

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Featured Stories

Soul trailblazers gain fame

August 5, 2010 by aajavoices

Suejin Kim

Suejin Kim. (AAJA Voices/Courtesy of Suejin Km)

By Lynne Guey
Voices

Talk of soul artists usually conjures up images of iconic 1960’s chart-toppers like Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye. But there are up-and-coming artists like Suejin Kim, a Korean American based in Los Angeles, making significant strides in a field less traditionally dominated by Asians.

“I’ve had some pressures as an Asian American, being the daughter of a conservative Korean family,” Suejin said. “They want me to have a full-time job, they want me to be in a certain tax bracket. And quite frankly, I think you can do it as a musician if you really want to.”

After graduating from UCLA with a bachelor of arts in anthropology in 2005, Suejin followed her gut and decided to pursue a career in music. Since then, she’s found success as a top ten finalist on Asian American Pop Star.

She is also a resident artist at the Tuesday Night Café, one of the longest running free public art spaces showcasing new Asian American talent, among others, in Los Angeles. Here, the sounds of gritty soul bounce off the buildings in Little Tokyo, where a burgeoning community of artists and enthusiasts gather in the spirit of artistic expression every first and third Tuesday, from spring to fall.

“There’s not a noticeable, widely known tradition of Asian American soul artists,” said cultural critic Oliver Wang. “I think when they try to enter the general audience realm for R&B, there’s this automatic skepticism because they’re (the audience) simply just not used to seeing an Asian face.”

But in today’s world of YouTube and ubiquitous social networking, the Internet has become a helpful launching pad for Asian American artists seeking exposure rarely afforded them in the mainstream recording industry.

Traci Kato-Kiriyama, the energetic co-founder of the Tuesday Night Project, said, “YouTube is an interesting phenomenon in our community, especially our community of young Asian American performers, because suddenly you see all these performers coming out of the closet – making videos of themselves and putting themselves out there to millions of people. Then some of them crack that shell, come out to perform and start to navigate through what it means to develop a career in the so-called ‘industry.’ ”

Dawen Wang, another resident performer at the Tuesday Night Cafe, has taken advantage of today’s virtual promotional tools by interacting with hundreds of followers on Twitter, more than 1,000 followers on MySpace and almost 3,000 followers on Facebook.

“I think the Internet has empowered indie musicians and also democratized the playing field,” Wang said.

As for Suejin, it’s not just about her individual success. Being a pioneering Asian American artist is so much more. It’s about using her status as a role model to educate others and break stereotypes.

“It’s really about exposing people to different things like Asians singing R&B or hip hop. It’s just exposure really, and if I can contribute to that in any way that I can, I’ll do it.”

Find Lynne on Twitter @heyguey

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Featured Stories

Today’s journalism debate: Be first, or be right?

August 5, 2010 by aajavoices
Anne Reifenberg

Anne Reifenberg, a recruiter from Bloomberg, shows job offerings to Tia Ghose, an intern at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel at the AAJA Career Fair & Expo. (AAJA Voices Staff/Vivian Wong)

By Jackelyn Ho
Voices

They call it news for a reason. All across America, people are fighting to be the first to know the latest trending topics – before it even happens.

Whether it’s the need for higher ratings, more website hits, or simply bragging rights, many newsrooms are slowly morphing from “accurate, fair, and honest” into “immediate” journalism. No one wants to be the last to know.

Suddenly, the competition has become fiercer: instant status updates, tweets, and blogs. Journalists who’ve been formally trained to report news are now up against citizen journalists.

Zahrah Farmer, producer and host of the video series “Days with Zahrah,” believes in equal opportunities for everyone – professional or not – saying, “I think everyone has the right to tell their story.”

Angie Lau, co-director of AAJA’s J Camp and anchor for Bloomberg, adds on, “I think that society is well-served when there are a lot of voices out there reporting, observing. Sometimes they are professionally trained journalists but sometimes they are just from somebody who witnessed an event in history.”

On the other hand, social media users just want to be the first person in their network to update their status, and news outlets desire that first sound bite. This results in a loss of detail and meaning to stories. Farmer believes this is a habit that has formed over time, saying “the media is ultimately trying to entertain, and this is what drives content.”

Gone are the days of reading and watching detailed news reports. In a five-month study done by the Poynter Institute called “EyeTrack07,” researchers studied reading behaviors within a control group.

The results showed that the stories that received the most attention were briefs, editorials, and ones with graphics. An overwhelming 53-percent of newspaper readers scanned headlines first and then their attention shifted to other headlines or pictures before settling on a story to read. After deciding on an article, many resorted to skimming through the content rather than thoroughly reading all the details.

“The attention span of our audience is nil,” said Douglas Gey, professor of television production at Laney College in Oakland, Calif. “We are a visual society and it’s not bad, but it’s just the way we’re going.”

Social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook may be great for spreading awareness, but they are also contributing to the growth of short attention spans. EyeTrack07 results showed that a rare percentage of readers want the full story, preferring quick sentences over long, descriptive paragraphs.

Although the news industry is constantly changing, journalists are urged to stick to their ground. Gey stresses the importance of being a a reliable source for the public by reporting the facts and remaining unbiased.

In filtering the many news sources that are available today, Lau says credibility is the main draw. “The consumer needs to understand where their information is coming from and take it with a grain of salt,” she said.

The industry is made up of individual journalists. If each person continues to report honestly and accurately, then the fear for quick journalism will dissipate. Whether it’s a citizen or professional journalist, precision is key. If done correctly, attention span will be the least of worries. At the end of the day, all of America will get the headlines, but it means nothing if what was intended as “news” turn out to be “wrongs.”

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