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Seattle University fellowships seeking journalists interested in family homelessness

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The Seattle University Center for Strategic Communications is offering four fellowships to support original journalism on family homelessness in the state of Washington to encourage more and better reporting about family homelessness to foster greater public understand of its causes and cures.

Each of the four fellowships, which are made possible by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, provides $15,000 to support in-depth reporting during the spring of 2010 on any aspect of family homelessness in Washington. Projects may be in any medium. Fellows will also attend seminars on family homelessness.

Independent and freelance journalists are eligible to apply as well as those employed full-time. Deadline for applications is March 5. For more information, go to the fellowship’s Web site.  

Check out live streaming of the Journalism That Matters event

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The Journalism That Matters event is underway at the University of Washington started Thursday. Organizers have emphasized that this conference is not about having “experts” speaking of the future of journalism. Rather there will be an open discussion to allow as many ideas and voices to be heard.

For those who couldn’t make it, the organizers have provided a live stream of the conference through UStream. Also check out Twitter updates from JTM organizers and attendees.

Check it out. There’s some pretty interesting discussion so far.

Celebrate Lunar New Year with AAJA Seattle

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Kick off 2010 with AAJA Seattle at our annual Lunar New Year banquet and silent auction at 6 p.m. Jan. 23 at Tea Place, 2828 Sunset Lane N.E., Renton.

This event is our chapter’s biggest fundraiser. The funds raised at this event has enabled AAJA Seattle to be one of the most active journalism organizations in Washington state. Last year, our chapter provided scholarships to five students, co-sponsored a media entrepreneurship conference at the University of Washington, organized a friendship tour of media in Vancouver, B.C., and held multiple social networking events for members and non-members.

Continue to support AAJA Seattle and our mission of supporting diversity and innovation in journalism by attending this year’s Lunar New Year banquet and silent auction.

You can buy tickets in advance at a discount NOW at Brown Paper Tickets by clicking here. Advanced tickets are $25 for AAJA members, $30 for non-members and $12.50 for children. At the doors, ticket prices will go up to $35 for all adults and $15 for children.

AAJA Seattle member Shawn Chitnis answers questions on Asian American Small Market Broadcast Journalists

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Shawn Chitnis, co-cordinator of the Asian American Small Market Broadcast Journalists group, with Lori Matsukawa, AAJA Seattle chapter founder and KING 5 anchor, at the AAJA National Convention in Boston. (Photo submitted by Shawn Chitnis)

On Nov. 1, AAJA launched the Asian American Small Market Broadcast Journalists (AASMBJ) group. The group, which will be advised by George Kiriyama, AAJA’s vice president for broadcast and a reporter for NBC Bay Area, was created to provide support and guidance for AAJA members who are in their first job, either at a small media market or in an entry-level position at a larger media market.

AAJA Seattle member Shawn Chitnis is serving as co-coordinator for the group. Chitnis, 23, is currently a reporter for KNDO-TV in Yakima. He is a 2008 graduate of the University of Southern California and a Seattle area native. Before coming to KNDO, he spent several summers working on the assignment desk for ABC News in Los Angeles and New York.

Chitnis met with fellow Yakima reporter and AAJA Seattle member Mai Hoang recently to answer questions about the group.

Q: Why did you want to get involved?

I am in a small market, so I can certainly empathize with the struggles of being in that situation. I believe very strongly in AAJA. I’ve been a member for two years, since I was a senior in college. In the limited time I’ve been a part of it, I feel I got a lot out of it and been able to connect with amazing people. (I want to do) anything I can to give back to the organization, and this is a first step toward that.

It’s very difficult to be in a small market in general. I think those who are members of AAJA may have additional challenges because they might be from larger cities and are adjusting to a smaller town or a part of a country they’re not familiar with and, honestly, a community that isn’t as exposed to Asian Americans as where they’re from. Take my situation, for example, (moving from) Seattle to Yakima. They’re both relatively diverse areas, but understanding of Asian culture is substantially different.

Q: What are some things from your small market broadcast journalism experience that you will share with the group?

The first thing is understanding what is needed in a smaller market and what small market news directors and small market TV stations are looking for. My experience was fairly exclusive to large markets, having grown up in Seattle, going to school in LA and interning in those (larger) markets. So perhaps I wasn’t properly exposed and didn’t know what small market news looked like and what was going to be expected of me in a small market.

Feedback and guidance is very difficult to get at any stage in your career, forget about being in a small market. Once you land that job, which in itself is a difficult step, you have to make sure you have the proper network to give you the right critique so that you are advancing; that you are improving. And so whatever your next goal may be – it might be staying in that small market and taking on a larger responsibility or it might be moving to a larger market – you need to have someone or a group of people who can help you do that.

Q: Tell me about your duties as the group’s co-coordinator.

Both Maria (Hechanova, a reporter and producer for KYMA in Yuma, Ariz.) and I, the two co-coordinators, have been tasked to lead the organization. We’re figuring out our social media presence. We’re trying to figure out how to have a show at AAJA-LA in 2010 and we are really working with our peers to figure out what is needed to make AASMBJ a success.

What’s neat about our situation is that I’m a year in working for a small market and Maria is a few weeks, maybe a month, into it. We’re people who can actively benefit from AASMBJ. We’re all going to be learning from each other and seeking each others help.

Q: How will AASMBJ integrate into the main AAJA group?

First of all, we’re a sub-group of AAJA and AAJA is what makes this organization alive. Our advisor is AAJA’s vice president for broadcast. Our associate advisors are active in AAJA and are in mid- to large-size markets so AAJA surrounds us and everything we do will be an extension of AAJA.

We’re working to figure out how we’re going to have a presence at the (AAJA National) Convention in 2010. Maybe it will be a mixer, maybe it will be a panel.

We have folks in small markets throughout the country. When we all come together for our convention, we want people to know that there is a place you can go during that time to connect with those who are going through the same things.

Q: How do you join the group?

We have a created a Facebook group (it can be found by searching for AASMBJ on the social networking site), which is going to be the core of AASMBJ. That is where we will do our primary order of business – putting out information, offering job postings, offering feedback and helping other members of AASMBJ connect with their peers. We’re also on Twitter right now. Twitter will keep you up-to-date and keep you in the loop, but we’ll push you to Facebook.

If you really want to be involved in AASMBJ, you have to be an active AAJA member, so you can join the Facebook group. And from there, we’ll do everything we can help connect people, create feedback, create forums and create a sense of community.

AAJA Seattle member Marian Liu writes on AAJA leadership program

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[photo from AAJA.org]

Marian Liu, arts and entertainment reporter at The Seattle Times, shared her experience with AAJA’s Executive Leadership Program (ELP) in an article posted on the National AAJA Web site.

Liu was the 2009 recipient of the AAJA/Newspaper Association of American Foundation Minority Fellowship, which covered her expenses for the ELP program, which looks at how Asian American and Pacific Islander values relate to high-level decision-making processes and leadership development.

Liu writes about why she became a journalist, what drew her to the ELP program and how the program increased her confidence and leadership skills.

Here’s an excerpt from the piece:

But after years in the industry, I ran into the same walls as those before me. Managers spoke about my “potential,” yet I was never able to realize this “potential.” But, the Executive Leadership Program provided me the blueprint to gain that footing to climb upwards.

In August,  Liu directed the first fully multimedia-enabled student project at the AAJA National Convention in Boston. This year’s AAJA Voices staff covered the convention through a variety of media platforms.

Northwest Video Workshop scheduled for Nov. 6-8 in Yakima

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A photo from the 2007 workshop

A photo from the 2007 Northwest Video Workshop (photo by Gordon King)

Want to develop new video storytelling skills? Take a road trip over the Cascades and head to Yakima for the 2009 Northwest Video Workshop, Nov. 6-8. The workshop is a joint effort of the Yakima Herald-Republic and region 11 of the National Press Photographers Association with sponsorships from Canon and Apple.

Depending on your experience level, two learning options are available:

  • The first is the standard workshop, which takes place the weekend of Nov. 7-8. During two-day boot camp environment, you will learn techniques for everyday video interviews, field equipment handling and potential ethical pitfalls during the video production schedule.
  • The second option is to apply for the advanced group of up to 14 participants who will work three days (Nov. 6-8) to hone existing interview, shooting, audio and editing skills pursuing real world stories.

The complete trainer list for the workshop is still being finalized, but confirmed instructors include Tony Overman, staff photographer at The Olympian and past-president of NPPA; Colin Mulvany, staff photographer at The Spokesman-Review in Spokane and multimedia contest chair for NPPA; Kurt Austin, photographer for KGW-TV in Portland and Adam Tischler, photographer for KING 5 in Seattle.

You can apply for both workshops by going to the workshop’s Web site.

The details in a nutshell:

What: Northwest Video Workshop
When: Nov. 6-8, 2009
Where: Yakima, Wash.
Cost: About $100, sessions and food included.
Registration, Info: http://nwvideoworkshop.org
Contact: TJ Mullinax, tj@yakimaherald.com, 509.577.7627

UNITY convention heading to Las Vegas in 2012!

UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc. announced Tuesday that it will have its next convention at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The convention is scheduled from August 1-4 2012.

Las Vegas was selected as the host of the upcoming convention after UNITY officials heard presentations from Las Vegas, Houston and Los Angeles. Los Angeles was chosen as the backup city.

This is great news for AAJA Seattle members who have spent a ton traveling cross-country for the training and connections these conventions offer. While it was great to be in the Windy City for the 2008 convention, I’m sure it will be nice to have the next UNITY convention in the same time zone.

Start saving now!

Words from Lee and Ling

Laura Ling and Euna Lee shared their experience reporting on the North Korean refugee movement in China and being imprisoned in North Korea earlier this week an op-ed published in the Los Angeles Times called “Hostages of the Hermit Kingdom.”

Like two good journalists, they do a great job describing the scene. They also make a point to respond to several criticisms they have received, such as ones from South Koreans concerned that the attention surrounding their imprisonment has compromised safe houses for the North Korean refugees.

Since our release, we have become aware that the situation along the China-North Korea border has become even more challenging for aid groups and that many defectors are going deeper underground. We regret if any of our actions, including the high-profile nature of our confinement, has led to increased scrutiny of activists and North Koreans living along the border. The activists’ work is inspiring, courageous and crucial.

Many people have asked about our strength to endure such hardships and uncertainty. But our experiences pale when compared with the hardship facing so many people living in North Korea or as illegal immigrants in China.

A great complementary piece to read (or listen to) once you read the op-ed, is a a story from National Public Radio that takes more about the North Korean refugee movement

In the story “All Things Considered” hosts Noah Adams and Robert Siegal interviewed Tom O’Neill of National Geographic about his challenges in reporting in the same region and his take on the Op-Ed piece.