March 26, 2018

San Francisco

In a world in desparate need of heroes - we have a real life one.

Decades before 'Diversity" and "Inclusion" became fashionable terms, Justice Harry W. Low was already at the forefront making positive change in our world. 

This month Justice Low celebrates his birthday and is as busy as ever arbitrating cases all over the country. 

My colleague ABC7 KGO TV's David Louie and I, a former KRON TV - NBC reporter Suzanne Joe (Kai), co-hosted this video celebrating Justice Low's extraordinary career and service to our community.

While researching for a film project, I visited the archives at UC Berkeley.

The head archivist said there is a resurgence of young people searching for their identities.

I saw them going through old, fragile, dusty newspaper clippings of the 60s and 70s to learn about the revolution when youth stood up to save our world.  

On one of the newspaper's front page was Justice Harry W. Low.  

Let's celebrate and honor our living heroes now.

This video was originally produced and edited by Steven Joe for Asian, Inc.'s Lifetime Achievement Award honoring Justice Low.

Click here to our Happy Birthday video honoring Justice Harry W. Low!

Or this link to the video:

https://youtu.be/wQRR_p_jzms

October 3, 2013

Report by New America Media

Pres. Barack Obama summoned top lawmakers to the White House on Wednesday afternoon, where he was expected to urge them to pass measures to finance the government and increase the debt ceiling, without placing limits on the Affordable Care Act. But, no progress was made to end a budget impasse that resulted in a government shutdown since 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday. News of the shutdown, which includes the closure of all national parks and a work furlough for 800,000 federal employees, generated a big response in the ethnic press. Key areas of concern included the shutdown’s effect on federal workers, loss of funding for social services, ramifications for immigration reform, and environmental impacts. 

Read the full report by NewAmericaMedia.org, a consortium of more than 2,000 ethnic news outlets around the nation.

Note: July 29, 2017

Journalist Ann Curry's comments back in 2013 are as current and urgent as ever.

If anything, journalists are being challenged now more than ever. 

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New York City

Veteran broadcast journalist Ann Curry inspired and encouraged journalists to 'hang on.' She says while there is strain in the journalism industry there will also be opportuniity.

Photo by Lia Chang for AsianConnections.com

The  NBC network television reporter, anchor and international correspondent was the keynote presenter at the closing night gala of the Asian American Journalist Association's 23rd annual convention in New York City August 24, 2013.

The seven-time Emmy award-winner, wife and mother of two opened the gala with her passionate commentary about the state of journalism.

WPIX-TV's Arthur Chi'en introduced her to the audience. Here are excerpts of Curry's remarks (with more coverage of the convention to be posted soon):

Arthur: Let's get right into it. What is the state of journalism?

Ann: I think journalism is in a very interesting state of change. I say interesting because there is strain, and there is also opportunity.    People are very concerned about the future of journalism and yet did you know that enrollment in journalism schools is up? So there is this kind of awareness that there's an opportunity ahead.    Curry acknowledged the struggles of the journalism industry but said, "Rather than be afraid and close up,...open up to what is possible."     We don't know what it looks like. We do know it will be broad. I think that there is a great opportunity to be deep in terms of what we can report. So I am extremely excited about it. I think there will be an opportunity to put news in a place in a way that has never been done before in the...

A team led by Nobel Laureate Dr. Susumu Tonegawa, including scientists Drs. Xu Liu, Steve Ramirez, Pei-Ann Lin, Junghyup Suh, Michele Pignatelli, Roger L. Redondo and Tomas J. Ryan have reported in the journal Science that they have created a false memory in a mouse, a monumental discovery which sheds light on how such memories can form in human brains. 

For the full report click here to the story by James Gorman of the New York Times.

Dr. Tonegawa is the founder of the Picower institute for Learning and Memory, affiliated to the Riken-M.I.T. Center for Neural Circuit Genetics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

July 25, 2013

San Francisco

San Francisco blogger Rich Lieberman has reported in his "Rich Lieberman 415 Media" blog that KTVU-TV has fired three of its veteran producers over the gaffe involving the fake names of the Asiana airline pilots broadcast on its news program. 

Leiberman provides a blow-by-blow account of his story of the firings. Click here for the full story

Meanwhile, San Francisco Chronicle columnists Andrew Ross and Phillip Matier, who is also a radio and TV broadcaster, credit Leiberman with breaking the news of the firings, and comment in their Ross & Matier SFGate.com blog on the reaction by colleagues.

Ross and Matier report that many colleagues were saddened but not completely surprised given the international attention the gaffe got, including a threat - later dropped - by Asiana to sue the station. "People are definitely down about it," one source said.

The columnists cite Randy Shandobil, a former KTVU political editor who left the station 2 1/2 years ago commenting on the gaffe as an example of a systemic problem with news reporters pressured and overtaxed everywhere. For the full story by Ross and Matier click here.

RELATED:

Update July 17, 2013
 
Asiana Airlines drops plans to sue KTVU-TV

UPDATE July 15, 2013

The Associated Press reports that Asiana will sue KTVU over broadcast of bogus names of four pilots of Asiana Flight 214 at SFO.

Asian American Journalists Association Issues Statement on KTVU's Bogus Names of Pilots of SFO Asian Flight 214 Crash

Related:

Reuters.com 

CBS News

Los Angeles Times

NBC News