Asian American Journalists Association

The following is an analysis of the Asian American Journalists Association website. (http://www.aaja.org)

AAJA is a non-profit educational organization founded in 1981 in Los Angeles, CA. With around 2000 members, the group offers support for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) journalists in the United States. The organization was founded in a time when few AAPI journalists were working in the field.

The website provides resources for professional and student members, such as mentor programs, grants, leadership programs and job opportunities. They also offer information on camps and training programs for members. Most of the site is devoted to membership offerings including information on the organization's 2010 convention, information on how to become an member and details on membership programs.

The AAJA Awards have a separate section of the site. The organization provides awards to journalists for coverage of AAPI issues.

At first glance, the site appears to be only of use to members. The homepage has quick headline information for organization news, the upcoming 2010 convention, and headlines about partnering organizations. Near the bottom, links to journalism resources and community news are found.

The site aims primarily to members or those seeking membership, but there are a few features which can be valuable to journalists and students who are not members. The MediaWatch section of AAJA "addresses issues of unfair and inaccurate news media coverage about Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders." This area of the site gives links to stories in which the AAPI community is covered in a biased way. This area of the site gives a watchdog feel to the organization, but instead of watching the government, they are watching their coworkers.

The news section of the site also gives brief headlines of industry news, membership news and AAJA announcements.

In addition to being a source for diversity among journalists, the website also gives a list of reference tools for all journalists. This list includes style guides, links to other news organizations' websites and AAJA publications among others.

In terms of journalism innovation, the site is an excellent source for diversity in journalism. One of the major challenges facing journalists today is diversity in the newsroom and in coverage of the community. The site provides resources that allow journalists to provide that diversity and examples of what not to do (the MediaWatch section). The AAJA Publications section of the site gives links to AAJA's annual reports and the 2007 Focus Project. The Focus Project provides information on Asian American journalists in the industry and how they feel in the newsroom. The annual reports include valuable information on major stories of the year involving AAPI community members and how those stories were covered, properly or not. The report also gives a summary of the MediaWatch issues for that year.

Overall, I would give this site a 3 out of 5. If I were grading only on their MediaWatch and Industry news sections, I would have given a higher rating. I feel that with issues as important as diversity in the journalism profession, it is vital that information is easily accessible to everyone on the subject. On the surface, the site is very membership focused with diversity information buried in the website. In my opinion, the site should be diversity focused with membership information buried. That information needs to be a priority in a diversity organization.