Beyond the byline: How AAJA supports, trains, and advocates for AAPI journalists

AAJA was created in 1981 because there was a group of journalists who felt like they didn’t see themselves in the media and wanted to be represented, and we’re really proud that we have grown and are a much stronger organization. But we know that there’s still a lot of work to do, so we’re always trying to make sure we’re advocating for our journalists and ensuring our coverage is accurate.”

Nicole Dungca, president of the board of directors, Asian American Journalists Association

It’s not just a message on the website. Asian American Journalists Association Board of Directors President Nicole Dungca has lived the words expressed on the front page at aaja.org.

“For 43 years, AAJA has advocated on behalf of AAPIs (Asian American and Pacific Islanders) in newsrooms on the front lines for stronger representation and more inclusion,” the message on the website states. “We are proud to stand on the shoulders of our fearless founders.”

Dungca is primarily a full-time investigative reporter at The Washington Post, one of the more prestigious roles in one of the country’s most prominent news publications. As the board president of AAJA, she is the head figure of an organization of some 1,900 members. Her familiarity with the AAJA organization began in college when she was awarded an internship funded partly by the organization she now leads.

Every step along her career, she’s benefitted in one way or another from the AAJA. 

And that's the point of the AAJA. It's an active organization for Asian journalists and Asian Americans on the receiving end of news content. AAJA works behind the scenes to give them support and training.

As for Dungca, the internship led to her first job in Portland, Oregon. At local AAJA chapters along her career path, she developed relationships and took advantage of AAJA training. She didn’t just learn about journalism. She learned about leadership — an intentional objective of the organization — one that grew from humble beginnings.   

Former Los Angeles Times journalist and Stanford graduate Bill Sing is credited with much of the AAJA’s creation. However, he had help from several others, including Tritia Toyota, Frank Kwan, David Kishiyama, Nancy Yoshihara and Dwight Chuman — all credited with co-founding AAJA.

According to an oral history video Sing gave for AAJA, the organization’s original priorities were to be a support organization to help Asian American journalists advance their careers and eliminate stereotypes and racism in news coverage. Those goals remain at the core of AAJA’s mission 43 years later, but the organization has blossomed in many ways beyond the scholarship fundraising dinner held in Year One of the organization.

“If you talk to our members, all of the people who were trailblazers for Asian American Pacific Islander journalists, they came from AAJA and worked within the AAJA to make sure there was this pipeline for future generations of AAPI journalists,” Dungca said.

“AAJA was created in 1981 because there was a group of journalists who felt like they didn’t see themselves in the media and wanted to be represented, and we’re really proud that we have grown and are a much stronger organization. But we know that there’s still a lot of work to do, so we’re always trying to make sure we’re advocating for our journalists and ensuring our coverage is accurate. Without the kind of diversity in the newsroom that reflects our communities, we’re not doing our jobs correctly.”

Three decades ago, the AAJA added a leadership component called the Executive Leadership Program.

“There’s a lot of things that have changed in the past 40-plus years, but there is still a lot to do regarding representation,” said AAJA Deputy Director Ai Uchida. She added the mission goes beyond “accurate representation in the media and our voices being reflected in the media, but also getting more leaders in positions of power. … So, we have a leadership program targeted to mid-career journalists. It’s called the Executive Leadership Program, and we are there to get them to be able to speak up more, to be able to lead more. Give them people management skills and budgeting skills. So that’s a program that we’ve had for 30 years.”

AAJA also offers a leadership transformation fellowship, providing tuition funding, made possible through a “very generous grant,” Uchida said.

Dungca, the board president, participated in the AAJA leadership program while she worked at The Boston Globe as a transportation reporter.

“It just helps prepare you for management, but also just how to be very intentional about your career and how to grow as a mid-career journalist,” she said. “And it was there that I articulated that I really wanted to be an investigative journalist, and afterward, that’s exactly what happened. I was able to advocate for myself within the newsroom and become a part of the Spotlight team at the Boston Globe.”

Dungca noted that the AAJA has programs for journalists at every stage of their careers, but AAJA is much more than a training organization. It’s also about support and networking. To that end, one key to AAJA’s success comes from its horizontal nature. Seventeen local chapters are dotted worldwide (one in Asia and the rest in the U.S.). Through the chapters, journalists connect and develop rapport with other Asian American journalists. A local support network develops.

“The chapters can decide for themselves what they feel are the best uses of their time and where they want to put their energy. … But, as a national organization, our mission is to make sure that Asian American and Pacific Islander voices are reflected accurately and equitably in the media, and we have a mission to empower, train and educate AAPI leaders so that they can be leaders within their organization, within their newsrooms.”

Beyond the training and support, AAJA advocates to help educate the media to use AAPI-friendly language in news reporting. Many Asian Americans felt targeted during the pandemic, when government officials, including former President Donald Trump, used terms like “China Virus” or the “Wuhan Virus” to describe the COVID-19 coronavirus.

The AAJA has created a style guide for journalism use. The guide has existed for several years but has been updated and reposted online for free use by any news organization.

Uchida said a key recent initiative was to publish an AAJA style guide that journalists can use. The guide has existed for several years but has been updated and reposted online for free use by any news organization.

One entry goes into detail about “anti-Asian hate,” a term that refers to “hostility, discrimination, violence or prejudice against individuals of Asian descent or related communities or businesses.”

The entry explains the harmful as well as the preferred language when referring to the pandemic, but it also informs about stereotypes, discrimination and violent attacks during other time periods.

Among the more poignant entries guides the use of the word “Asian.” The Stylebook explains that one should “be cautious about using Asian in a way that treats a large, diverse group as a monolith. Whenever possible, be specific about an individual’s or a group's identity, deferring to sources’ self-identification, unless speaking to the experience of a broader Asian community.”

The guide also explains that certain terms, such as “Far East,” “kamikaze” and “nip,” among several others, should be avoided. The guide gives the reasoning behind each recommendation.

The guide isn’t a tool to “shove these rules down people’s throats,” Uchida said. “We’re just trying to help explain where we’re coming from. That is one way we are trying to fight stigma, to explain in a very accessible way.”

The style guide can be found at https://www.aajastyleguide.org/#/.

AAJA’s website offers many more programs and initiatives, including a mental health fund for mental-health-focused programming to help members cope with the challenges of being a journalist and a person of color. AAJA also supports interactive online courses for students, who are assigned stories covering the journalism industry and the AAPI community. Those pieces are published on the Voices website at voices.aaja.org.

Bob Miller has spent more than 25 years in local newsrooms, including 12 years as an executive editor with Rust Communications. Bob also produces an independent true crime investigative podcast called The Lawless Files.