L.A. Times Guild members found AAPI Caucus

The L.A. Times staff includes more than 80 journalists with roots in Asia, the Pacific Islands, the Middle East and North Africa. We are coming together as the AAPI Caucus of the L.A. Times Guild. Here is our mission statement: 

To: Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong
Cc: Kevin Merida

We’re proud to work for the Los Angeles Times, a publication with the largest representation of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders of any major newsroom in America — from our owner and masthead leaders, to editors, reporters, columnists, podcast hosts and assistants.

But we must aim higher if we are to succeed as a modern news organization.  

Many AAPI staff members have come together in recent months in the wake of the Atlanta shootings to talk about our shared interests and ideas for improving our company. These are some of our main broad goals:

Solidarity: We stand in solidarity with the Black and Latino caucuses, which inspired us with their calls for necessary change, and want to collaborate with them on shared goals of correcting The Times’ past shortfalls, such as fanning the flames of racism, with improved equity and better coverage of communities of color.

Coverage: We call on The Times to invest in producing the nation’s best coverage of our diverse and complex AAPI communities. At a time when the "othering" of our communities has contributed to the rise in anti-Asian racism and violence, we need coverage of Asian Americans that is accurate, nuanced, comprehensive and fair more than ever. We also want the newsroom to strengthen coverage of the Pacific Rim, as our large diaspora communities continue to share deep bonds with their homelands. These are first and foremost civic responsibilities but they are also smart business strategies, as AAPIs are the fastest growing racial group in America who make up 15% of both the Greater Los Angeles area and California more broadly. 

Representation: We want to help create a diverse and inclusive newsroom, staffed by more people with the critical language skills and the cultural understanding needed to cover our complex communities. AAPIs are composed of more than 50 ethnic groups with different languages, cultures, religions and histories in the United States, including those with roots in East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the Pacific Islands. 

Community: We aim to build stronger bonds with our AAPI communities to understand their collective needs and develop trust, relevance and credibility so we can improve our coverage and better serve them.

Connection: We also want to create a support network for our AAPI staffers so we may build deeper connections with each other across departments, strengthen our collective voice and help advance our career aspirations through mentorship and retention activities. 

To help accomplish these goals, we established the Los Angeles Times AAPI Caucus in November 2021.

We hope you share our goals and will commit to working with us on specific strategies to accomplish them. 

Sincerely,

Teresa Watanabe

Shannon Lin 

Ada Tseng

Seema Mehta

Aida Ylanan

Szu Yu Chen 

David Pierson 

Frank Shyong

Don Lee

Maneeza Iqbal

Samantha Masunaga

Jaweed Kaleem

Albert Lee

Ashley Lee

Jessica Chen

Phi Do

Michael Ordoña

James Kim

Justin Chang

Adrienne Shih

Richard Martin

Irfan Khan

Anh Do

Wendy Lee

Victoria Kim

Andrea Chang

Kevin Leung

Iris Lee

Sandhya Kambhampati

Kevin Ueda

Jie Jenny Zou

Jenn Harris

Suhauna Hussain

Rubaina Azhar 

Kent Nishimura

Rosanna Xia

Amy Wong

Ken Kwok

Thuc Nhi Nguyen

Kelvin Kuo

Rahul Mukherjee

Lilly Nguyen

Cindy Chang

Denise Guerra

Asal Ehsanipour

Lucas Kwan Peterson

Calvin B. Alagot

Rong-Gong Lin II 

Kay Lai Scanlon

Sarah Parvini

Christina House

Heba Elorbany

Alice Su 

Ameera Butt

Adam Elmahrek

Dylan Hernandez 

Thomas Suh Lauder

Katrina Ten

Gregory Yee

Alene Tchekmedyian

Matt Ormseth

Ashley Dunn

Nicole Vas

Calvin Hom

Robbin Nagatoshi-Goddard

Millie Quan

Taylor Le 

Christian Stone

Craig Nakano

Alex Tatusian

Allison Hong

Kate Kuo

Gustavo Arellano

Erin B. Logan

Marissa Evans

Christian Orozco 

Paloma Esquivel

Jevon Phillips

Arit John

Kurtis Lee 

Priscella Vega

Jade Cuevas

Efrain Hernandez Jr.

Andrew J. Campa

Alejandra Reyes-Velarde

Brian Contreras

Jared Servantez

Eduardo Gonzalez

Eduard Cauich

Soudi Jiménez

Karen Garcia

Gabriel San Roman

Jad El Reda

Carolina A. Miranda

Dania Maxwell

Erika D. Smith

Martina Ibanez-Baldor

Jessica Martinez

Nancy Rivera Brooks

R. Marina Levario

Lorena Elebee 

Vanessa Martínez

Andrea Castillo

Daniel Hernandez

Carla Hall 

Carlos Lozano

Terry Tang

Henry Chu

This letter was signed by members of the AAPI Caucus of the L.A. Times Guild, other non-Guild AAPI staff of the L.A. Times, and members of the Guild’s Black Caucus and Latino Caucus in solidarity. Media Guild of the West’s Executive Committee unanimously voted to support this statement.

Previous
Previous

Media Guild of the West files federal petition supporting stronger OSHA vaccine protections

Next
Next

Gov. Newsom signs SB 98, boosting California press freedoms