By Sam Chu Lin
When a thousand plus journalists from around the country converge in San Francisco, Aug. 1 - 4, to attend the 14th Annual Asian American Journalists Association’s national Convention, they will be introduced to a new radio program that’s expected to generate plenty of excitement.
Produced by KQED, San Francisco’s National Public Radio station, the new weekly, half-hour newsmagazine is called Pacific Time. Billed as the first program of its kind, Pacific Time is about Asians and Asian Americans and is aimed at the mainstream audience. The show is broadcast locally on prime time — Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and repeated at 11:00 p.m. — and is heard on 38 stations across the country. The list of stations is growing.
Pacific Time is looking for Asian American journalists who have interesting stories to tell.
In 1999, the station asked Executive Producer George Lewinski to put together a proposal, and quickly approved his concept. KQED is so convinced of the need for this program that it has dedicated two years of funding to the project and is distributing the program nationally to other public radio stations without cost.
“The goal is to report on the connections between Asia and America, and specifically, to talk about how the Asian American communities are helping to bridge the oceans, culturally, politically, and economically,” Lewinski remarked.
Citing a recent study produced by Asia Society, the former MarketPlace foreign editor and reporter stated, “one out of four students on their way to college could not name the ocean that separates the United States from Asia.” He added, “Among adults, almost half of them think that Vietnam, where their fathers or brothers fought for half a decade, is an island nation.”
Hosted by Qui Duc Nguyen, a former National Public Radio and BBC commentator, the show is filled with a variety of faire. The show attempts to appeal to those who know a lot about Asians and to those who don’t.
“It’s about being able to give voice to the Asian community, to present the Asian perspective, the Asian stories, the Asian people to a society at large,” Nguyen said. “Some people are reluctant, but the listeners are ready. The notion that we Asians live only in California is hogwash. We live everywhere. We’re not as vocal in Mississippi or upstate New York, but we’re there. We have the connections with Asia.”
The program has news bureaus in Bangkok, Beijing and Tokyo, with correspondents reporting the latest developments taking place there.
The show’s producers are hoping Pacific Time will make a difference in broadcast journalism. Lewinski cites as an example the Committee of 100’s report released last April, which revealed that many mainstream Americans surveyed distrust Chinese and other Asian Americans.
“We certainly were ahead of everybody on that story,” he commented. “I think many of us don’t feel that there is a great deal of bias against Asian Americans and Chinese. I think the notion that almost half of the people surveyed said they would feel uncomfortable if an Asian American were president says something. That was quite surprising. Similarly, the sentiments expressed [a belief] that Chinese Americans have dual loyalties — I think that’s a scandalous sort of an attitude.”
Lewinski and his team say a number of Asian reporters now file reports to the program, but more can help to make a difference.
“It’s a chance to get their stories, the ones that they are interested in, and their communities, to a wider audience,” he said.
Said Nguyen: “This is a collaboration between the mainstream media and people who normally don’t get a voice. We also want to bring in people with a professional, journalistic background ... coupled with their Asian American background, to tell a more sensible, sensitive story.”
To learn more about Pacific Time, address email inquiries to glewinski@kqed.org. |
