Asian American journalists come together in Las Vegas for annual convention

The opening reception for the Asian American Journalists Association featured President Paul Cheung of The Associated Press, and emcees Michael Kim of 120 Sports and Michelle Yu of SNY. Photo taken at Caesars Palace on Wednesday, August 10, 2016. (Courtesy of Peter Choi and AAJA Voices)

While the presidential candidate town hall headlined the Asian American Journalists Association convention in Las Vegas on Friday, the four-day event aims to be a boon for journalists young and old.

More than 800 Asian American journalists are in town for the annual convention being held at Caesars Palace this year. The event started Wednesday and ends Saturday. The group’s goal is to provide journalists with various and diverse skill-building and networking opportunities, according to AAJA President Paul Cheung. Cheung is also the director of interactive and digital news production for The Associated Press.

Coalescing once a year is key for Asian journalists, Cheung said. According to the American Society of News Editors, Asians make up just 2.8 percent newsroom staff in the U.S.

Cheung said many of those journalists are working in smaller markets that “can be very isolated.”

“It’s the only time of the year where we can gather to talk about the issues that affect us,” Cheung said.

Benjamin Din, a 20-year-old junior at Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in Illinois, said it was encouraging to see so many Asian American journalists working in the industry.

“I know a lot of the time people think of the media as this homogenous block of white male reporters,” Din said. “Here, its great to see so many great Asian Americans working in journalism.”

Some journalists attended workshops on making documentaries, long-form writing and covering crisis situations, Cheung said. Other events offered younger journalists the chance to sit down with more established journalists in the industry, such as CNBC anchorwoman Melissa Lee, to talk about what it takes to break through.

Much like the journalism industry as a whole, the AAJA has struggled since the Great Recession hit in 2007.

Membership for the group peaked in 2005, but has dropped 60 percent to 1,350 in the past decade, according to a story published in the 2016 AAJA Voices, the group’s annual student news magazine. The Review-Journal was an in-kind sponsor of the AAJA convention through printing the 2016 AAJA Voices.

Cheung said the drop in membership in the past decade is consistent with the nationwide journalism trend.

According to projected numbers from the American Society of News Editors, the total number of newsroom jobs has dropped from more than 54,000 in 2005 to 32,900 in 2015.

But even in the face of a potentially shrinking job market, Din was encouraged about the future, thanks to the journalists he met.

“I made a lot of great connections and met a lot of great people,” Din said. “They all seem willing to help out the younger guard of journalists.”

Contact Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638. Follow @ColtonLochhead on Twitter.