Asian American Journalists Association Convention Draws Journalists to Detroit

posted on: Aug 9, 2011

About 600 journalists are meeting in Detroit this week for a convention that tourism officials predict will pump $1.6 million into the economy.

Detroit beat other cities, including New York, for the Asian American Journalists Association’s national convention from Wednesday to Saturday.

Motown is appropriate because it teems with stories, and many view the city as the birthplace of the Asian-American modern civil rights movement because of the outrage following the 1982 beating of Vincent Chin in Highland Park, said Doris Truong, national president of the 1,400-member San Francisco-based group.

“The concentration of Arab-Americans in Detroit also provides AAJA an opportunity to connect with one of America’s under-covered communities,” she said.

More than 50 workshops and panel discussions are scheduled for Cobo Center, Detroit Marriott hotel and elsewhere downtown. The group also plans to tour Dearborn on Wednesday.

Ankur Dholakia, a convention co-chairman and co-president of the Michigan chapter of the group, said local members began the pitch to bring the convention to Detroit four years ago.

“I hope it sheds new light on Detroit,” said Dholakia, a multimedia producer for The Detroit News.

“My big hope is that they get a different feeling about Detroit. A lot of people discounted Detroit because we’re in a bad economy.”

Marian Liu, an association member, traveled from Seattle and said the AAJA convention offers a chance for members to network with other media professionals.

“In the next five years there will be fewer reporters and others on staff,” said Liu.

“It’s scary what the next generation faces. It’s important to get (younger journalists) interested in being multimedia journalists.”

Oralandar Brand-Williams
The Detroit News