Underrepresented. Overlooked. Oversimplified.
For the 30 journalists and community residents of different Asian, South Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) ethnicities and backgrounds that met under the umbrella of the Colorado News Collaborative’s Voices Initiative in March 2022, these three words best describe mainstream media’s coverage of current events that were in reality as complex as the communities themselves.
The rise of anti-Asian rhetoric as the COVID-19 pandemic spread was inescapable. Former President Trump’s repeated references to the “China virus;” the use by media of images of Asian people in stories about the coronavirus; the random, brutal attacks upon Asian Americans, including the murders of Asian women in Atlanta, were prominent features of news coverage. Each represented an ongoing and traumatizing assault upon a community’s psyche. Closer to home, as the group began meeting, Denver’s mayor issued an apology for an act of 19th-Century violence perpetrated by a white mob against the city’s Chinese residents.
In a new report, “Fighting To Be Seen.’ A call from Colorado’s AANHPI Communities for Equitable and Just Local News”, the AANHPI Voices working group developed four key recommendations for more accurate representation:
Establish ongoing connections with Asian, South Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Coloradans.
Increase Asian, South Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander representation in newsrooms and in coverage.
Represent culture and history intentionally and accurately.
Invest in translation and adapt media formats to reach younger and older generations.
To join the AANHPI Voices Colorado project or to receive more information about this work, click here.
To read the recommendations from the Black Voices working group, click here. To read the recommendations from the Latinx Voices working group, click here.