AAJA Guidance on Atlanta Shootings, Asian American Journalists Association

AAJA Guidance on Atlanta Shootings

Contact: Naomi Tacuyan Underwood, Executive Director / naomitu@aaja.org

The shootings in Atlanta on March 16 killed eight people. Six of the victims were identified as Asian and seven were women. At least four of those killed were of Korean descent.

The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) urges newsrooms to:

• Take caution with language in news coverage that could fuel the hypersexualization of Asian women, which has been linked to violence and discrimination. In describing the businesses affected by the shootings, newsrooms should avoid terminology and connotations of prostitution or sexualization. We recommend they be described as “spas,” “businesses,” or by their proper names: Young’s Asian Massage Parlor, Aromatherapy Spa and Gold Spa.
• Provide context. We urge newsrooms to cover the shootings in the context of the current rise in attacks on Asian Americans. These shootings have come during a time of increasing attacks on the AAPI community, and heightened fear among AAPI communities across the country.
• Understand anti-Asian racism and invisibility. Racism against AAPIs is highly nuanced, complex, and has remained historically invisible, and…