From July 30 to August 3, 2025, over 1,400 AAPI journalists came to Seattle from all corners of the nation to attend the annual Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) convention. Learning about topics such as Artificial Intelligence, immigration, international reporting, and one does after getting laid off from a job, journalists from AAPI backgrounds shared resumes, made new connections and learned more about how to move better in their own newsrooms.
As one of the founding members of the Seattle chapter of AAJA, veteran journalist Lori Matsukawa—who has been in the broadcast journalism industry for more than 40 years said the experience was like a dream.
From learning about Artificial Intelligence, immigration, international reporting and what to do when you get laid off from a job, many journalists from AAPI backgrounds shared resumes, made new connections and learned more about how to move in their own newsrooms.
“It was unbelievable, and it just made us very proud,” Matsukawa said, referring to the founding of AAJA’s Seattle chapter. According to Matsukawa, AAJA was founded in 1981, but AAJA’s Seattle chapter was formed in 1983, following the Los Angeles and San Francisco chapters.
AAJA Seattle’s founders include: Matsukawa, former KING 5 evening news anchor; Frank Abe, former reporter at KIRO Newsradio; and Ron Chew, former editor and board president of the International Examiner and the chapter’s first president.
They held meetings in the Examiner office in the beginning. Over time, the chapter has grown to have members and board members across multiple Pacific Northwest news organizations, such as The Seattle Times, KOMO, KIRO, KING 5 and more.
“We’re looking for truth and coverage; that’s why we started the organization. That’s why we have a chapter here,” Matsukawa said. “Locally, the Examiner was a good place to start because it’s easier to start small and work big to broaden out. AAJA found a good home in the Examiner office,” Matsukawa said.
Ken Mochizuki, former reporter and editor at the Examiner, was given AAJA’s Lifetime Achievement Award this year, and will be an upcoming recipient of Examiner’s Community Voice Awards for Leadership in Journalism. Mochizuki and was an early treasurer for the Seattle chapter; Matsukawa said he kept track of the chapter’s finances and collected dues.
Mochizuki was unable to accept AAJA’s award in-person, so Matsukawa delivered it and recorded a video for him to see. She said, “When he saw the video and the standing ovation at the end, he burst into tears. He was so overwhelmed by the reaction, 40 years later, to have this kind of recognition in his own hometown and this national network of friends and colleagues.”
Matsukawa also shared that Seattle chapter members make up a good chunk of AAJA’s national history, since the national organization was co-founded by Bill Sing in 1981. He was the first national chapter president and attended Stanford University with Lori Matsukawa and also went to Mercer Island High School, according to Matsukawa.
“I think people really appreciated their time here in Seattle. It was full of memories, and it was full of heritage,” Matsukawa said. “It was kind of looking back and appreciating where we’ve come and how much has been achieved in 40 years of our chapter.”
Naomi Ishisaka also shared the same sentiments. Ishisaka is the assistant managing editor for diversity and inclusion at the Seattle Times, social justice columnist and AAJA Seattle chapter president, and convention programming committee co-lead.
“It was so huge to have it here on our 40th anniversary. It just really felt like a full circle moment…I really feel like I was kind of nurtured by AAJA in so many different ways,” Ishisaka said.
The first scholarships that she received were from AAJA, through their Northwest Journalists of Color scholarship fund. “I remember getting a scholarship
handed to me by Lori Matsukawa,” she said. “I was just awestruck because I grew up watching her on TV, and then to even be in the same room as her, much less get a scholarship from her, was just so powerful.”
As a student aspiring to break into the industry, Ishisaka also said it felt like an endorsement that professionals believed she could do this work.
“We forget that there weren’t a lot of Asian American journalists that folks could look up to,” Ishisaka said. “And now you’ve kind of built these generations upon generations of journalists who have role models; who have people who’ve already charted that same path that they can look to and sort of be inspired by.”
Both Ishisaka and Matsukawa said AAJA has provided an important role for coverage of Asian American communities.
After the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings and the “kung flu” labeling of the COVID-19 pandemic, AAJA released guidance on how to cover Anti-AAPI violence through double-checking names, pronunciations, and faces as well as being specific about the violence and harassment AAPI groups face.
“I think we see everyday how important it is to have diverse perspectives in our media,” Ishisaka said. “I mean, the fact that we have a multitude of people looking at issues and stories from their own [perspectives] only makes journalism better.”
While many national media news organizations came to show their support for AAJA, there was an emphasis on how local media is the backbone of the journalism industry.
Ishisaka said papers like the International Examiner have played a strong role in speaking up for marginalized communities and covering issues that matter to locals.
“People need to make sure that they don’t take local journalism for granted,” Ishisaka said.
First time convention goer Nick Ng said the best thing he learned was how to leverage AI and search engine optimization on how to guide journalists writing their stories.
Ng is managing editor for the My Neighborhood News Network, which covers three cities in south Snohomish county: Edmonds, Lynwood and Mountlake Terrace.
“I have never met so many Asian American journalists in one setting, because for the last three years working in Snohomish County, I thought I was the only one,” Ng said. He said that it was great to see how other Chinese American journalists would look at his name badge and speak English or Cantonese, automatically.
“I had no prior expectations when I walked into that ballroom and met people; it’s kind of like looking at pretty much everybody on the same ground level, in the same playing field, whether they’re local, global or national,” Ng said.
He said he’d like to attend a future AAJA conference, due to how much he learned so much from the topics presented during panels. He also valued the connections he made with other journalists, what they’re doing in their own city, and how to do that
in the neighborhoods he covers.
