Study Reveals Fewer APAs in Broadcast
August 19, 2005
More than a thousand Asian Pacific American journalists are gathering at the 17th Annual National Convention of the Asian American Journalists Association and in Twin Cities, Minnesota, focusing attention on the newest Radio Television News Director Association’s (RTNDA) Employment Survey. It reveals a further decline of APA broadcast journalists. In 2005, there was not a single Asian American radio news director, only 1.3% percent of APAs as television news directors, 1.9% APAs overall in television news and less than 1% APAs in radio news overall, according to researchers at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. “The barriers that keep Asian Americans from entering and succeeding in journalism are the same barriers that prevent their rise to high-profile on-air positions and in news management,” said Stanton Tang, AAJA’s vice president for broadcast and managing editor at Las Vegas One/KLAS-TV. “The bigger picture is that there hasn’t been progress in a meaningful way in years even though the minority population in the U.S. continues to expand,” said Ball State communications professor Bob Papper. Papper believes the Federal Government’s deregulation of the broadcast industry in 1998 is partly to blame, and also low salaries. “If you adjust for inflation, the starting salaries in broadcasting are the lowest it’s been in 20-30 years,” he elaborated. “A legitimate question is, ‘Are people simply choosing more lucrative areas?’”Frank Buckley, whose mother [Oguma] is a Japanese American, recently left CNN to become a weekend anchor at KTLA-TV in Los Angeles. He remembers the dedication and perseverance needed to get started. “In 1987, I was the morning anchor in Palm Springs at the ABC station and reporting during the day,” he recounted. “The guy over at the NBC station who did the same job finished up his morning shift and went over to a department store to sell men’s suits. We were making about $13,000 a year.”
He also reminds aspiring journalists they often need “thick skins.”
“You can’t do this because you just want to be a television star,” he advised. “You can’t do this because you expect to become a millionaire. You have to have a passion to be a journalist, to be a writer, to be a good storyteller.”
Arthur Chi’en, a former WCBS-TV reporter who is joining another TV station in New York City, says APA men are quitting the industry. “A lot of our business is based on a formula now,” Chi’en explained. “Asian American males just don’t factor into that formula. We have mostly women here in New York. The situation is worse in Boston. There isn’t the big demand for men.”
Another APA broadcast journalist on the East Coast would only talk anonymously because his station requires company approval on any interviews. “We have a conservative Administration that has made it clear it doesn’t like affirmative action,” the journalist asserted. “And having more diversity on the air suggests to some people of being liberal. … There have also been many stories about how China is becoming an economic and military threat in the world. Many people can’t tell the difference from one Asian to another. If they are fearful, that could also impact the hiring of more Asian Americans.”
Still some cite high-profile APAs like Lori Matsukawa (KING-TV/Seattle), Raj Mathai (KNTV) and David Ono (KABC-TV/Los Angeles) as signs that Asian American images are still getting through. But Janice Gin, assistant news director at KTVU in Oakland and chairperson of RTNDA’s diversity committee, says she’s most concerned about the dearth of APAs in management. “People in management can make a story live or die,” Gin remarked. “That’s why I think it’s so important when we talk about these news statistics, that it’s so important that we really push not just to get people in the pipeline or people in our business, but we get them to stay and to aspire to positions of power and responsibility. That way we can help to insure that the community’s stories are told.”
“That statistic hasn’t changed in years,” noted Henry Chu, news director at KGBT-TV (CBS) in Harlingen, Texas. “That’s frustrating and unfortunately it demonstrates how little progress has been made.”
WHAT AAJA CAN DO
“AAJA has the database of the people that I might be looking for to bring along. They could be the conduit that brings the students, the budding journalists, the experienced journalists and connect them with someone like me –– who is trying to look for good people –– who is trying to create a more diverse newsroom.”
– Julie Chin, assistant news director at KGO in San Francisco
“AAJA has created a management training program, but that’s not enough. It needs to put more pressure on the networks and newspapers to recruit and promote Asian Americans and other minorities. If they’re going to get a minority … they score real points if they hire a Black or Hispanic. Unlike Asian Americans, those communities have been more outspoken and more effective in placing their people.”
– A veteran network news producer, under anonymity for fear of violating company policy
“Getting inside the board rooms, getting inside those circles where the hiring is being discussed –– whether it be the news director, general manager, and high level producers –– we don’t have very much representation across the board. AAJA could really do a service in establishing more scholarships specifically for producer types. This organization should do more for the veteran journalists.”
— Michael Kim, ESPN sports anchor
“[We require] companies to sign a commitment that they plan to further develop a trainee after that person has completed the university’s management training program and returns to work. That’s what AAJA and other ethnic journalistic associations should also do. If there is no such commitment, a lot of time and money could be wasted.”
– Arlene Morgan, assistant dean of Columbia University’s graduate school of journalism
“We have relatively few broadcasters who apply to the Executive Leadership program. … [They] say they don’t see the importance of that kind of training. We have approached the major networks about sending people to the program. In years when the economy was decent, they have sponsored people and sent them. In years when it’s not so good, training gets cut.”
– Dinah Eng, director of AAJA’s Executive Leadership Program, Gannett News Service
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