presents

http://www.ourchinatown.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jeff Yang | jeff@ourchinatown.org or Marcia Santillan | marcias@aaja.org

The Asian American Journalists Association

Launches "OurChinatown" — a Hyperlocal
News and Culture Blog Covering Manhattan's
Dynamic Chinatown Community
Project is part of a journalism innovation pilot program celebrating the 15th
anniversary of AAJA's Executive Leadership Program, funded by the McCormick
and Ford Foundations; goal is to fill in gaps of reporting on this critical
yet underserved New York City neighborhood

April 1, 2011 –
In 1858, Ah Ken, a Cantonese businessman, became the first Chinese person to permanently immigrate to
the area now known as Manhattan Chinatown. Since then, Chinatown — an area currently approximated
as being bounded by Broadway on the West, Rutgers/Essex Street on the East, Madison Street/Worth
Street on the South, and Broome Street, Grand Street and Canal on the North — has become home to over
100,000 residents, 2/3 of whom are Chinese. The neighborhood has emerged as one of the city's most
vibrant commercial areas and critical cultural magnets — yet to most New Yorkers, it remains an enigma,
with little representation in mainstream news and lifestyle media beyond police blotters, disaster reports and
restaurant reviews.

Thanks to the generous support of the McCormick and Ford Foundations, the Asian American
Journalists Association is proud to announce a new project designed to help address the lack of coverage
of Chinatown: A hyperlocal news and culture blog called OurChinatown (http://www.ourchinatown.org).

"'Hyperlocal' has been the buzzword in the journalism industry for the last couple of years, but most of the
well-known hyperlocal projects out there have focused on affluent neighborhoods that are well served by
existing media," says Cindy del Rosario-Tapan, editorial director of the project. "We see this as an
opportunity to give a voice to a community that traditionally hasn't had one, and to talk about news and
issues from a point of view that's relevant to and resonant with members of this community."

Part of what makes that possible is the formation of an active advisory board composed of representatives
from many of the Chinatown community's most important stakeholder organizations, from the Chinatown
Partnership, to the Chinese-American Planning Council, the Renaissance New York organization, the Asian
American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Organization of Chinese in America, the Asian American
Arts Alliance and the Museum of Chinese in America.

"The goal of this project is to figuratively turn around the lens, to make it possible for people who are from
Chinatown — people who have a stake and a background in this neighborhood — to bring their unique
perspective to covering it," says Jeff Yang, the project's marketing and community outreach director, who
lived on the Lower East Side and worked in Chinatown for several years.

One of the things that makes the project unique is its emphasis on mobile journalism: OurChinatown
reporters, assigned to cover Chinatown beats ranging from politics to business to shopping, will use
camera-equipped smartphones as a primary newsgathering tool, filing stories, video and images from the
streets of the neighborhood in real time. Eventually, says interactive director Paul Cheung, the project
intends to make mobile delivery of news a priority as well, noting that cellphones and smartphones are
ubiquitous even among recent immigrants to the neighborhood.

"To serve primarily Chinese-speaking residents — about half of the Chinatown community — we're going to
initially provide a 'best-of' feed of stories translated into Chinese, which will be available in mobile-optimized
format, " says Cheung, who grew up in Chinatown and attended the neighborhood's P.S. 24 elementary
school. "We're also looking at producing Chinese-language podcasts that can be downloaded or streamed
to phones."

Experimenting with alternative ways of reporting and sharing news is a critical aspect to the project, which is
the third of three Journalism Innovation demonstration pilots launched in celebration of the 15th
Anniversary of AAJA's Executive Leadership Program, a professional development program that trains
and challenges Asian American journalists to both advance their careers and expand the boundaries of the
journalism industry.

"OurChinatown is a unique undertaking in local news coverage," says Mae Cheng, executive editor of
amNewYork, and the coordinator of the Journalism Innovation pilots for AAJA. "The project shows how it's
possible to actively cover a community using readily available technology, while establishing a partnership
with that community to ensure there's constant first-hand feedback on what issues its residents find
important. We hope its success will lead to it being a model for other local news websites to emulate."

In the meantime, the OurChinatown team is eager to see how active daily coverage of the neighborhood
changes the way New Yorkers see Chinatown, and how Chinatown sees itself.

"I grew up here, and this project has a deeply personal meaning to me," says OurChinatown staff reporter
Pearly Huang. "It's a chance to give back to the community that brought me up, and to tell stories that are
not normally told in mainstream media — stories that you wouldn't hear about if you were a tourist."

Fellow OurChinatown reporter Michelle Jiang agrees. "My great-grandparents first moved to Chinatown
decades ago, and my family lived there for a very long time," she says. "I still have a lot of memories of
being there, and I think with all the changes that Chinatown is undergoing, this is something the community
really needs right now."

That's because — beginning with the tragic events of 9/11, and continuing with the outbreaks of SARS and
avian flu in Asia and the recent global recession — Chinatown has faced a series of ongoing disasters that
have had a dramatic impact on the economic health of its businesses and the morale of its inhabitants.

"I've covered Chinatown since 1980, and I remember how good a place this was then," says Alex Peng, a
veteran reporter for New York's Chinese language media who serves as one of OurChinatown's bilingual
editors. "Since then, it has been fading away, and it's in danger of disappearing. For the Chinese American
community, this is not just a place — it's a source of life, inspiration and dreams. And Chinatown isn't just
important for Chinese Americans. It's not just our Chinatown. It's everybody's Chinatown."

For further information or to speak with the OurChinatown team, email Jeff Yang at jeff@ourchinatown.org
or Marcia Santillan at marcias@aaja.org, or call Marcia at 415.346.2051 x107. To view OurChinatown's
detailed Intro Presentation, go here: http://www.scribd.com/full/52067995?access_key=key-
bmsq6695bz7u1es5yqj
OurChinatown: The Team
Directors
Mae Cheng (Project Coordinator) is executive editor of amNewYork. Before joining amNewYork in 2007,
she was a editor and reporter for New York Newsday. She is a former AAJA national president and UNITY:
Journalists of Color president, and serves as committee chair of the AAJA National Endowment. She
participated In AAJA's Gannett Management Development Mentor Program in 2005 and was AAJA National
convention chair in New York in 2000. Cheng is a graduate of the AAJA Executive Leadership Program New
York Class of 1998 class and a former AAJA national boardmember.

Paul Cheung (Interactive Director) is the Associated Press's Global Interactive Editor for its New York City
headquarters. The interactive editor manages a global team of visual journalists who produce multimedia
and information graphics for all formats, including print, online and mobile. Cheung is also an adjunct faculty
member at Columbia Journalism School teaching visual journalism. Prior to joining the AP, Cheung was The
Miami Herald’s Deputy Multimedia Presentation Editor. He managed MiamiHerald.com site redesign in 2009
and before joining the Miami Herald, Cheung was a Senior Graphics Editor at The Wall Street Journal.
Cheung served on the board of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA). He was the National
AAJA convention co-chair in Miami 2007 and programming chair for the past three years. Cheung, a 2007
Newspaper Association of America Breakthrough fellow, graduated from New York University where he
studied journalism, sociology, science and photography.

Cindy del Rosario Tapan (Editorial Director) is a freelance writer and editor. Previously, she was editorial
manager at RecycleBank, an incentives program that encourages people to take positive green actions.
Cindy has served as the managing editor for National Geographic’s Green Guide online, Parenting.com and
the eco-conscious website Blue Egg. She began her career at In Style and Oprah magazines, before being
named program director for the launch of Martha Stewart Living Radio. She is the former president of the
NY chapter of AAJA, and a 2005 graduate of the Executive Leadership Program.

Jeff Yang (Marketing and Outreach Director) was founder and publisher of aMagazine, Asian America’s
most influential English-language media institution, and aOnline, one of the first Asian-American
communities on the web. He now serves as Global VP of Iconoculture, where he oversees operations in
Greater China, Japan and Korea. He is a former Vice President of the New York chapter of AAJA.

Stakeholder Advisory Board

Wendy Chan, founder and principal, Definity Marketing
Beatrice Chen, education and programs director, Museum of Chinese in America
David Chen, executive director, Chinese-American Planning Council
Wellington Chen, executive director, Chinatown Partnership
Margaret Fung, executive director, AALDEF
Kevin Kong, associate managing director, Renaissance New York
Ed Litvak, founder and editor, The Lo-Down NY (http://thelodownny.com)
June Jee, boardmember, OCA-NY
Andrea Louie, executive director, Asian American Arts Alliance
Telly Wong, IW Group; founder, The Five Points Variety Hour

Editorial Staff
Angela Chen (Editor) is originally from southern California but loves NYC like it’s her own. She is currently a
freelance reporter for NY1. Before that, she studied at Columbia University’s Graduate School of
Journalism, where her beat was Chinatown and the Lower East Side. Her previous experiences include
working as a news writer and associate producer of the morning news program “Good Morning San Diego”
at KUSI News. Angela was also an NBC News fellow at Dateline and Channel One News. She has written
for the San Diego Union-Tribune and worked for The Charlie Rose Show. Angela did her undergraduate
work at the University of California, San Diego, where she earned degrees in Literature/Writing and
Psychology. She is a member of AAJA, SPJ and Pi Beta Phi.

Katherine Fung (Reporter) is a writer and editor based in New York, and Regional Listings Coordinator for
Patch.com. Prior to working with Patch, she was Special Projects Intern for Time Out New York, an intern
for the Huffington Post, and worked as a special events intern for Chinatown's Chinese-American Planning
Council. She grew up in Brooklyn and graduated from Bryn Mawr College with a degree in Urban Studies.

Michelle Jiang (Reporter) is currently an editorial intern at WomansDay.com. As a recent graduate from
CUNY College of Staten Island, she is an internet-savvy aspiring journalist, covering multiple areas of
interests from music and arts to cultural and local events in Greater New York. After studying for a semester
abroad in Rome, Italy, and months spent exploring the European continent, Michelle was bitten by the travel
bug and has since been fevered with a passion for delving into diverse cultures around the world. Having
lived in New York her whole life, she is the product of a rich melting pot environment.

Roque Ruiz-González (Web Producer) graduated in late 2007 as a Graphic Designer from Miami
International University of Art & Design, he quickly became one of the main designer for Miami Herald’s
website redesign. Since then he has worked on many interactive online packages and infographics for
South Florida’s leading newspaper blending successfully graphics, sound and video.

Pearly Huang (Reporter) is a freelance writer and editor based in New York. She was born and raised in
New York’s Chinatown so this project holds a special and deeply personal interest to her. Pearly recently
came from working with another hyper local community startup, Patch.com. Before Patch, Pearly was an
editorial intern at Time Out New York, where she contributed to TONY’s online blog, “Last Minute Plan.”
She also interned for the interactive department at SIRIUS XM Radio. Pearly also has on-air radio
experience from ComRadio, Penn State’s student-run radio station.

Alex Peng (Editor) has spent over 20 years reporting for both Chinese-language newspapers such as the
World Journal and radio stations like the Chinese American Voice. His many pioneering accomplishments in
news and culture journalism for the Chinese community includes serving as the first Mandarin Chinese play-
by-play broadcaster for the New York Islanders hockey team. He has been honored with an recognition from
New York State Assemblywoman Ellen Young for his efforts to reach out to the Asian communities
throughout the world, using sports and culture as his tool.

About AAJA
The Asian American Journalists Association is a nonprofit professional and educational organization
with about 1400 members in 21 chapters across the United States and Asia. Founded in 1981, AAJA has
been at the forefront of change in the journalism industry. AAJA’s mission is to encourage Asian Americans
and Pacific Islanders to enter the ranks of journalism, to work for fair and accurate coverage of AAPIs, and
to increase the number of AAPI journalists and news managers in the industry. AAJA is an alliance partner
in UNITY Journalists of Color, along with the Native American Journalists Association, National Association
of Hispanic Journalists, and National Association of Black Journalists. For more info, visit www.aaja.org.

About AAJA's ELP

Founded by Dinah Eng, columnist for Scripps Howard News Service, freelance writer and former AAJA
National President, AAJA's Executive Leadership Program is a program to help Asian American and Pacific
Islander journalists become outstanding newsroom leaders and executives. ELP looks at how Asian
American and Pacific Islander values relate to high-level decision-making processes and leadership
development and explores the responsibilities and challenges of the newsroom and enterprise, helping
participants develop individual career paths to leadership positions. There have been 381 graduates of the
Executive Leadership Program since the program began in 1995.