AA+PI journalists convention looks to the industry’s future while honoring its past

“If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything” is a recurring refrain in the blockbuster 1985 film Back to the Future. That line echoed loudly at this year’s Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) convention last week in Seattle, as both the history and future of journalism—and of diversity in journalism—were front and center.

A pluralist cohort of hundreds of journalists from around the world gathered in Seattle last week at a time when both pluralism and journalism are being attacked domestically. It was the first time in more than a quarter century that Seattle had hosted the convention. JoySauce, GeekWire, and Seattle Magazine chairman Jonathan Sposato was among the change agents who addressed attendees.

This year’s convention recognized much of the AAJA history and foundation, with a keen focus on the future of journalism and diversity.

Seminal regional and national journalists Janice Gin, Curtiss Kim, and Lloyd La Cuesta were recognized during a ceremony Thursday night, while local Seattle legends Lori Matsukawa, Ron Chew, and Frank Abe were feted at the Wing Luke Museum for founding the AAJA Seattle chapter 40 years ago, and for their contributions to journalism and diversity.

In addition, actress Lucy Liu was honored with the AAJA Visibility Award during an awards gala on the convention's final night on Saturday. She sat down with AAJA president Nicole Dungca for a fireside chat discussing her trailblazing career in entertainment, as well as Asian American representation in the industry. They also discussed Liu's new film, Rosemead, and were joined on stage by longtime AAJA member Frank Shyong, who wrote the Los Angeles Times story that inspired the film.

Looking ahead to the future of media and communications, Sposato delivered his ambitious vision for JoySauce, the first all-Asian television network. Sposato aims to dismiss the myths and stereotypes of American Asian culture.

He pointed to neglected Asian and Asian American consumers, saying there are currently no channels offering exclusively English-language, pan-Asian content for a potential audience with $2.2 trillion in spending power. For comparison, there are 28 channels with content catering to Black audiences and 41 for Latino audiences.

“There is a way that we can exude our persona as Asian Americans that is a little bit more provocative, edgier, make some trouble, proudly embrace how amazingly different we are, how beautiful we are, how talented we are,” Sposato says, addressing the audience on Thursday night. “And so we actually spotlight—we purposely spotlight—a lot of these round pegs in the square holes.”

Sposato emphasized the importance of a diverse newsroom. “For us Asian Americans who perhaps were born here or were at least raised here, to have something that we can look at that raises our visibility and that changes the conversation about us, because we’re owning the conversation, we are defining who we are. We’re defining what our story should be, and not having somebody else make those decisions.”

He envisions JoySauce as the next Black Entertainment Television (BET), which sold to what is now Paramount for $3 billion in 2001. “BET was a thing. And you would look at that and be like, ‘Wow, that’s so cool,’” Sposato says. “So I want JoySauce to be that for some 12- or 13-year-old living here in the United States, to have someone, to have something that inspired you and say to yourself, ‘Okay, that is what I want to be.’”

Journalist and activist Helen Zia shares Sposato’s vision for lifting Asian and Asian American voices through media. Zia, who has been advocating for social justice for more than four decades, concedes that change takes time. “Social change is a gradual process,” she says. “It’s like a marathon, where rapid advancement is unsustainable and true progress unfolds over time.”