Jeremy Lin Media Guidelines Issued by Asian-American Journalists
While NBA teams are still struggling to find a way to cover Jeremy Lin on the court, the Asian-American Journalists Association has released rules for covering Jeremy Lin in the news, amid incidents deemed racially insensitive.
"In the past weeks, as more news outlets report on Lin, his game and his story, AAJA has noticed factual inaccuracies about Lin's background as well as an alarming number of references that rely on stereotypes about Asians or Asian-Americans," the group wrote as part of an advisory explaining why the release was necessary.
The guidelines, published Wednesday, outline aspects of Lin's career and various "Danger Zones" for reporters to avoid while reporting on the Lin story.
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The guidelines also contain one general rule for covering Lin equitably: "Stop to think: Would a similar statement be made about an athlete who is Caucasian, African-American, or Latino?"
Included in the list is the phrase "chink in the armor," which was used last week by ESPN in a story headline and during on-air coverage about Lin. The AAJA issued a statement admonishing ESPN for the incident and both the editor and on-air personality faced disciplinary action.
ESPN was the winner of the AAJA's 2010 Leadership in Diversity Award, but the AAJA's official statement on the Lin issue said the network was not "living up" to the accolade.
In an interview with NBC Bay Area, AAJA national president Doris Truong called the ESPN incident "deeply disappointing and appalling… That was simply inexcusable."
When discussing the attention that the racial coverage of Lin has received, Truong said, "It's great to bring attention to the issue, but I think it's also important to do that hand-in-hand with education."
