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The Hawaii chapter was founded by a small band of journalists in 1987. The idea of a local chapter took seed with a telephone call from AAJA co-founder Bill Sing to then-Honolulu Advertiser reporter Sandra Oshiro. He asked whether she would be interested in helping to organize a chapter of AAJA in Hawaii. Sure, she said, knowing little what it would all spawn. Sing visited Hawaii in 1987 to meet with a group of Hawaii journalists, including KITV anchor Paula Akana, Hawaii Herald writer Karleen Chinen and other representatives from Honolulu's media outlets. Many of the members came together because of a common concern over the lack of Asian Americans in the state's newsrooms, particularly in the management ranks. In a state where most of the population is Asian, the disparity was clear and disturbing. From the beginning, the chapter's goals were not only to promote opportunities for Asian American journalists, but for Pacific Islanders as well. Encouraging Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders to enter journalism remains a major priority of the chapter. In 1995, the chapter hosted the AAJA national convention, attracting nearly 700 participants and more than 100 recruiters. The Hawaii convention was the first to feature a World Wide Web home page, reflecting the convention's emphasis on skills-building for the new century. Hawaii has been again selected as the convention site and will be the host in 2006. Presidents of the chapter have included Oshiro, Marvin Buenconsejo, Nestor Garcia, Mark Matsunaga, Andy Yamaguchi, Lucy Young-Oda, Teri Okita, Gordon Pang, Jaymes Song, Jill Kuramoto, and Stephen Tsai. 2006 officers
President Vice President Secretary Treasurer National Representative 2006 Board Members
Jill Kuramoto KITV reporter jillk@kitv.com Kanoa Leahey Stephanie Lum Darren Pai Sandee Oshiro |
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