Posted on 04/17/2007 12:19:57 PM PDT by Dont Mention the War
Media Advisory: Coverage on Virginia Tech Shooting Incident
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Janice Lee, 415-346-2051, JaniceL@aaja.org
SAN FRANCISCO (April 16, 2007) -- Like the rest of the nation, we at the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) are stunned at the news of today's shooting at Virginia Tech. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families and friends as they cope with this horrific incident.
As coverage of the Virginia Tech shooting continues to unfold, AAJA urges all media to avoid using racial identifiers unless there is a compelling or germane reason. There is no evidence at this early point that the race or ethnicity of the suspected gunman has anything to do with the incident, and to include such mention serves only to unfairly portray an entire people.
The effect of mentioning race can be powerfully harmful. It can subject people to unfair treatment based simply on skin color and heritage.
We further remind members of the media that the standards of news reporting should be universal and applied equally no matter the platform or medium, including blogs.
We at AAJA, representing approximately 2,000 reporters, editors, photographers and executives in the industry, encourage journalists to refer to style and reference books, both within their own shop as well as AAJA's at http://www.aaja.org/resources/apa_handbook/.
We also invite those with concerns or questions to contact AAJA as a resource for issues of fair and accurate coverage of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. AAJA's national office is at (415) 346-2051, National@aaja.org, www.aaja.org.
About AAJA
The Asian American Journalists Association is a non-profit professional and educational organization with approximately 2,000 members across the United States and in Asia. Founded in 1981, AAJA has been at the forefront of change in the journalism industry. AAJA's mission is to encourage Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) to enter the ranks of journalism, to work for fair and accurate coverage of AAPIs, and to increase the number of AAPI journalists and news managers in the industry. AAJA is an alliance partner in UNITY Journalists of Color, along with the Native American Journalists Association, National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and National Association of Black Journalists. For more information, visit www.aaja.org.
Never heard that and I know a lot of Asians. Wonder if that is just a Chinese thing?
We don't know that, though. We know little about his upbringing at this point, and given how often these days we discuss the ability (or inability, as it were) of some immigrants to fully assimilate, it makes no sense at all to give this guy a pass right off the bat.
If his heritage truly had nothing to do with his behavior, it'll be clear soon enough. What the AAJA is attempting to do is pure story suppression.
Well, in the Duke case, they wanted to spin the story as being rich white boys taking advantage of black girls, and that this happened in the south, and remember that there used to be legal segregation in the south, white men took advantage of black females in the old days, and what about Strom Thurmond and his black daughter, etc. etc. etc.
So they will mention race and ethnic matters if it suits the way they want to spin a story. Otherwise they will claim that it doesn’t matter.
I’m an equal opportunity offender.
What ... Koreans aren’t Asian anymore?
This is ridiculous.
AAJA, he was Asian. He’s dead now. Things are what they are. Get over it.
It could be; I’m talking from limited experience. Plus they’ve been in this country a relatively short time. They may not have heard what they’re supposed to like to be called. Of course, they prefer to be called Chinese. Han Chinese if they want to be specific.
Well why aren’t they calling themselves just journalists then?
“Also, Dude, Chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature. ‘Asian-American,’ please.”
Uh-oh. You know what happened to Imus!
Sort of like being a Christian has nothing to do with being labeled by the MSM as a "far-right Christian".
Bottom line - the shooter was nuts.
What the heck...you can’t refer to black perps as “black”, or muslim perps as “muslim”.....
Heck, the University didn’t have the guts to tell the students two people had been “murdered” in the early morning hours. They used some “PC CRAP” instead of the word “murdered”!
Dude was Asian, get the fop over it!
“They prefer Oriental over Asian”
Any such weird, armed Orientals should be spun in circles every so often to disorient them.
They have to refer to the man as Asian. If not a large segment of the American population will have to sort out national/tribal African roots.
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