BY JULIE CHEN
Back in 2002, a study conducted by Annenberg School of Communications
and released by the Asian American Journalists Association validated a
long-standing concern of the Asian community. The research, titled “Asian Male Broadcasters on
TV: Where Are They?” was the first of its kind and exposed the skewed ratio of
male to female Asian TV journalists in the news industry. Statistics revealed
that out of the 104 Asian Americans employed on air by the top 25 US markets, a
mere 22 were male. The number of male anchors stood even more lopsided and
totaled to a whopping one.
Flash forward and it’s 2013. The aforementioned study is almost a
decade old, and the numbers have certainly changed. A recent follow
up study by the AAJA in 2008 has confirmed a 73 percent increase in
Asian-American men on air, from 22 in the top 25 markets to 38. Despite the
slight improvement, Asian news anchormen remain relatively rare. Focus in on
San Francisco, for example, and a few familiar faces might be Raj Mathai and Mike Inoyue
on KNTV, or Rick Quan and Alan Wang on KGO—but considering a quarter of the San
Francisco population is Asian, the fact that they're still able to count their Asian anchormen with fingers is pathetic.
This long-standing phenomenon of a lack of male Asian anchormen has
been promptly labeled the “Connie Chung Syndrome.” Connie Chung, the renowned
trailblazing journalist famous for becoming the first Asian and second woman to
anchor a major American news channel, has become not only an icon of the news
industry but also set the precedent for the trend of the White-man-Asian-woman
duo at the anchor desk. Speculation towards the public unwillingness to digress
from this pairing ranges from the exotic appeal of Asian women to the less
threatening nature of a “delicate” minority woman matched with the white male.
Whatever the reason, it’s a complex mix of ignorance and bias that exacerbates
gender stereotypes.
Regarding the underrepresentation of diversity in the news, company
directors prefer to point to the “shallow talent pool” of Asian American men in
TV journalism. There’s good cause to doubt the validity of this claim, but in
any case a lack of talent isn’t our problem. The problem is the dearth of
current Asian American anchormen on-air, signaling a shortage of role models
and reinforcing the belief that broadcast journalism is not an Asian man’s cup
of tea. What we need to do is to reverse this malicious cycle—a unified
response from TV executives and an informed public to create positive,
impartial work environment that can hopefully attract and retain future
minority anchormen. With thousands of communications graduates pouring out of
universities annually, competent candidates are definitely out there.
But there remains an unanswered question in the minds of many. Why all
this fuss? Because mainstream media is a powerful propagator of popular belief
and thus TV news should embody the diversity of the population it serves. “The
television is the stage of legitimacy in our society,” says Alan Wang,
anchorman for KGO-TV in an interview for
the Asianweek Foundation, “it’s refreshing to see an accurate portrayal of
[Asians] in an authoritative position.” And he’s right. Asian-American
anchormen like Wang empower young Asian males to pursue TV journalism, and
incorporating more men like him in the news industry demonstrate that both male
and female Asians are capable of achieving success in the broadcasting field.
It’s time for a change. Fair representation for the people, better
ratings for the 8 o’clock news. Sounds like a win-win situation for all.
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