The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) was founded in 1981 by several Asian American journalists who felt a need to support greater participation by Asian Americans in the news media. The first national president of the association was television journalist Lloyd LaCuesta.
Its goals are:
- To encourage Asian Pacific Americans to enter the ranks of journalism
- To work for fair and accurate coverage of Asian Pacific Americans
- To increase the number of Asian Pacific American journalists and news managers in the industry.
AAJA is a nonprofit organization. Its national office is based in San Francisco. It has 20 chapters in the United States and Asia, with over 1,600 members.
AAJA has chapters throughout the country and in Asia. There are four different chapters in California alone—Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Sacramento. In addition to Los Angeles, the largest chapters are New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. Members span the globe from Paris to Bangladesh.
The diverse membership includes broadcast anchors, reporters, producers, writers and videographers; print editors, columnists, reporters and photojournalists; and online editors and contributors. The membership also consists of many associates other business and public relations sectors.
AAJA is a partner organization of UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc.
Famous quotes containing the words asian, american, journalists and/or association:
“If he roars at you as you’re dyin’
You’ll know it is the Asian Lion.”
—Carolyn Wells (1862–1942)
“We talked about and that has always been a puzzle to me
why American men think that success is everything
when they know that eighty percent of them are not
going to succeed more than to just keep going and why
if they are not why do they not keep on being
interested in the things that interested them when
they were college men and why American men different
from English men do not get more interesting as they
get older.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“The journalists have constructed for themselves a little wooden chapel, which they also call the Temple of Fame, in which they put up and take down portraits all day long and make such a hammering you can’t hear yourself speak.”
—G.C. (Georg Christoph)
“In this great association we know no North, no South, no East, no West. This has been our pride for all these years. We have no political party. We never have inquired what anybody’s religion is. All we ever have asked is simply, “Do you believe in perfect equality for women?” This is the one article in our creed.”
—Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906)