Forum looks at profiling of Asians in journalism
By Daily Bruin Staff
Dec. 3, 2000 9:00 p.m.
By Ruby Jain
Daily Bruin Contributor
A forum sponsored by the Asian American Studies Center last week
discussed how many Asian Americans feel they have been framed as a
group to be feared by the media.
Kyung Won Lee and Tritia Toyota, both long time journalists,
community activists, teaching at UCLA this quarter, spoke about how
the media dealt with the case of nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee.
Wen Ho was branded a Chinese spy and held in solitary for nine
months for allegedly breaching national security and downloading
what the government called the “crown jewels” of
America’s nuclear weapons program.
He was released only after pleading guilty to one account of
mishandling nuclear secrets and agreeing to discuss the rest of the
59 dropped charges with the FBI.
“This case was a prime example of how the institutions of
race, policy and media come into play, in which Wen Ho Lee played a
key role,” said Toyota, a veteran Southern California
journalist, who has more than 20 years of experience in Los Angeles
news media.
The implications of the story manifested itself in Asian
Americans being unjustly fired from government jobs, a more divided
Asian American community, and a general fear of Asian Americans,
according to many present at the forum.
K.W., who worked 40 years as a reporter, editor and publisher of
mainstream dailies and Asian weeklies, said Asian American
scientists have been persecuted.
“I am a journalist and I know the press’ duty is to
protect the unheard, unseen, and unrepresented,” K.W. said.
“But the New York Times refuses to say sorry for its
journalistic lynching.”
On Sept. 26 the New York Times published an unprecedented
2000-word editor’s note acknowledging that its reporting on
allegations against Wen Ho Lee contained “flaws” and
“a problem of tone” that “fell short of our
standards.”
No other major newspaper has done this, according to Toyota.
A consensus among the 30 people listening in Dodd Hall that
night was that the only way to prevent unfounded accusations of
Asian Americans is through educating people and a strong sense of
community.
“Take everything you see and read critically,”
suggested Toyota.
K.W. encouraged the audience to use the degrees and awards
earned to give back to the community.
He said few Asian Americans defended or even spoke up about what
he called “the murder of Wen Ho Lee’s name and
character.”
The lesson to be learned from Wen Ho’s case, K.W. said, is
that everyone needs to help create this community consciousness so
that Asian Americans no longer feel alienated and fearful.
