Don't Be Fooled by Gift Card Scams

About AsAmNews

AsAmNews incorporated as Asian American Media Inc in December 2021 and has been formally approved as a recognized 501 (C) (3) or non-profit by the IRS. AAMI is responsible for the publication of AsAmNews, the only daily news site dedicated to the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. The site is supported by numerous foundation and government grants and by our generous readers. All donors of $20 or more are recognized on our Bad Ass Asian donor Wall of Fame.

Mission 

Our mission is to drive the narrative about the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities and showcase all that is American about AAPIs.

Awards/Recognition

Founder & Editor Randall Yip earned a nomination in 2023 for the Silver Circle, in recognition of his 20 plus years of outstanding journalism in Northern California/Nevada/Hawaii from the local chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Our biweekly column Wayne’s World by Wayne Chan won first place in the Multicultural category from the San Diego Press Club in 2023.

A story about an Asian American woman aiding troubled babies in Ukraine by Corrie Martin won the International Reporting Award from Ethnic Media Services and California Black Media in 2023.

In May 2022, AsAmNews received numerous accolades including the Torch Award from the National Association of Asian Pacifics in Politics and Public Affairs. The award commends AsAmNews for its coverage of substantive issues of importance to the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. The award also recognizes outstanding trailblazing news media platforms that support and promote AAPI political and issue-based news content.

That same month, the California AAPI Legislative Caucus awarded AsAmNews a commendation for “uplifting Asian American and Pacific Islander visibility and voices in the face of xenophobia and increased anti-Asian violence.”

Earlier in May, the Asian Hustle Network, a 200,000-member support group recognized Randall Yip, founder and editor of AsAmNews, with its its Unsung Heroes Award for working for the betterment of the community with little recognition.

AsAmNews Photo

 

History/Origins

Yip, a veteran journalist of both mainstream and ethnic media, founded AsAmNews in 2012 and the news platform operated as an all-volunteer operation through May 2022. The following month Asian American Media Inc received a grant from the State of California and the California Library Commission under the anti-Asian hate initiative which allowed it to begin paying some of its staff, although many continue to volunteer. AsAmNews is a community of users interested in reading, learning and commenting on news, events, people & issues in the Asian Americans and Pacific Islander communities. Here you will find a full roundup of headlines and blogs with original reporting along with aggregated headlines from both mainstream and ethnic media.

Special emphasis is placed on featuring stories about Asian Americans breaking stereotypes and making contributions in the community. The site is dedicated to documenting the Asian American experience to showcase its depth and diversity.

Readers are highly encouraged to comment on stories and engage in constructive dialogue with others on the site. You may contact the editor at: randall (at) asamnews (dot) com We look forward to hearing from you and reading your comments on our posts. For information about how to blog for AsAmNews, submit a news story or suggest a link or Bad Ass Asian you’d like AsAmNews to follow, go to: http://www.asamnews.com/submission/

Board of Directors

Randall Yip- President Founder & Executive Editor, AsAmNews. President & Chair of Asian American Media Inc. Formerly Senior producer ABC7/KGO-TV in San Francisco. Past executive producer at KNTV in San Francisco and KPTV in Portland, OR.

In April he left ABC7 to lead Asian American Media Inc and AsAmNews full-time to tell the untold stories the mainstream media is missing.

Dave Liu- Vice Chairman CEO Advisor of several multi-billion-dollar companies including Internet Brands/Web MD. He’s raised over $15 billion in capital. Executive producer of the documentaries Inheritance and Every Day After and such films as Didi. He joined Asian American Media Inc to affirm the AANHPI story as an American one. 

Dickson Louie- Treasurer Principal of consulting firm, Louie & Associates. Past business development director of the LA Times, San Jose Mercury News and SF Chronicle. Lecturer at UC Davis. He’s dedicated to uplifting marginalized communities.

Annie Lam- Named top 25 AAPI Changemaker by the Sacramento Bee (2022) and top 40 under 40 by the Sacramento Business Journal (2018). President Lam Consulting Group and Executive director of League of California Cities Women’s Caucus. She works to bring political power to the AANHPI communities.

Ulash Thakore-Dunlap, EdD LMFT, is assistant professor of school counseling at California State University, East Bay (CSUEB) teaching in the MS Counseling program. Dunlap maintains a small private practice in San Francisco. Her areas of interest include school-based mental health, Asian-American mental health, South Asian American counseling needs, and graduate counseling and psychology education. Dunlap is the senior editor of the book, Counseling South Asian Americans: Psychological and Clinical Implications (Thakore-Dunlap et al., 2023) published with Routledge.

AsAmNews seeks to maintain the highest standards of journalism integrity. Here are our policies toward that end. 

AsAmNews Editorial Independence Policy

We subscribe to standards of editorial independence adopted by the Institute for Nonprofit News:

All final decisions about the story selection down to the editing process are the decisions of our staff and editors.  No endorsement of products, services or opinions are implied when we accept financial support. 

While we do accept sponsorships from government and non-profit entities, we do not accept them from for-profit corporations.  We base news judgements on journalistic principles and without the influence of any funders or donors.

While we may accept donations to support the coverage of particular topics, we maintain full editorial control over any story we publish.  

We routinely list all donations of over $20 on our donor wall.   Anonymous donations for general support is made independently by our organization and in compliance with INN’s Membership Standards.

AsAmNews Donor Transparency Policy 

We fully disclose all donations from individuals, foundations, sponsors and domestic governments of over $20.

We are fully committed to full transparency. Acceptance of any money does not constitute an endorsement of products, services or opinions. 

We accept support from government entities that are offered to other non-profits or similar businesses. Grants, sponsorships and gifts help with general operations and coverage of specific topics and projects. 

 

Our news judgments are made independently of any financial supporters.  Supporters do not have the rights to assign, review or edit content.

As a news nonprofit, we avoid accepting charitable donations from government entities, political parties, elected officials or candidates seeking public office. We will not accept donations from sources who, deemed by our board of directors, present a conflict of interest with our work or compromise our independence.

Code of ethics and corrections policy 

AsAmNews provides fair and accurate coverage of the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.
We seek the truth, but also recognize the truth often comes in shades of grey. We will present more
than one side of complex issues. We verify our information and draw upon sources that are diverse and
expert.

We offer a wide variety of opinions, to present our stories with context and without misrepresentation.
We acknowledge and correct any errors as soon as possible. We are transparent in our decision making.
We recognize that focusing on covering an underrepresented community comes with obligations that
we take seriously. Our coverage will be free of harmful or over simplified images that paint broad
strokes about a group, a gender, a race, an ethnicity, nationality, religion, or sexual identity.

We will avoid using racial identifiers of suspects in crime stories unless we have a full description that
one could reasonably hope could lead to a possible capture or identification.

We identify sources and agree to use anonymous sources only if the identification could seriously
endanger them. Decisions regarding use of anonymous sources will be done with the input of editors
and we will share our reasoning with readers.

We attribute our information and fully acknowledge when our information comes from other news
media.

We do not accept sponsored posts from corporate entities. We may present posts from governments or
non-profits if the information in being presented for the public good such as in a health emergency or in
the interest of public safety. All sponsored content will be clearly labeled as such, so readers are clear about the source. AsAmNews retains editorial control over even sponsored posts and reserves the right
to edit and verify.

Opinion pieces are accepted, but must clearly be labeled op-ed.

We do not accept gifts and favors from sources, in order to prevent real or apparent conflicts of interest,
nor do we provide favorable treatment to advertisers, sponsors or donors.

We apply the standard of our journalistic code of ethics to our publication and to our use of social media.

Staff

Randall Yip, Executive Editor: A veteran of both ethnic and mainstream journalism of 45 years

Akemi Tamanaha, Associate Editor: Former intern who remained to volunteer as an editor and reporter. Promoted to full-time associate editor since we officially became a non-profit in 2022.

Jia Jung: California Local News Fellow. Graduate of Columbia School of Journalism and past fellow at Honolulu Civil Beat.

We also have numerous freelancers currently on our staff:

Riya Baphna, Freelance Reporter & TikTok host: She is an engineer at American Express

Shree Baphna, Freelance Reporter: She works full time as a health researcher

Saleah Blancanflor, Freelance Reporter: She works fulltime with NewJersey.com as a reporter.

Wayne Chan, Humorist: He is a syndicated columnist who specializes in satire.

Jake Chang, Freelance editor: He is a former intern and current student at Pomona College

Adam Chau, Freelance reporter: Asian American blogger/documentarian (photo/video)

Mimi Chen, Freelance reporter: She is a Los Angeles based disc jockey who primarily covers the music scene 

Ti-Hua Chang, Freelance Reporter: He is a veteran reporter who has worked at numerous television stations in New York City. 

Fan Chen, Freelance Reporter: She is a reporter based in New Jersey

Erin Chew, Freelance Reporter: She is a writer who write primarily about the entertainment scene in Hollywood.

Raymond Chong, Freelance Writer: He makes speaking appearances focused on Asian American history and writes about that topic for AsAmNews

James Chung, Freelance video producer: He works for a major streaming service in Operations and produces videos for AsAmNews.

Bailey Franzen, freelance graphic artist: She is a recent graduate of UC Davis in graphic design.

Stephanie Hoo, Freelance Editor:  She had a long career as an editor with the Associated Press. 

David Hosley, Freelance Reporter: He is a veteran general manager of numerous NPR and PBS stations currently reporting for our Lost Kinjo project.

Rachael Kim, Freelance Reporter: She is a recent college graduate from NYU now writing for us.

Janelle Kono, Freelance Reporter: She is a freelance writer based in Washington, DC.

Martin Lee, Freelance cartoonist: He is a syndicated cartoonist based in Florida

Yunfei Liu, Freelance Reporter: She is a recent graduate of Northwestern University now writing for us.

Jana Monji, Movie Reviewer: She is a member of the Hollywood Critics Association

Shirley Ng-Lew, Freelance Reporter/Photographer: She work at the Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund in New York

Allyson Pang, Freelance Reporter: She is a reporter with Midweek

Dhanika Pineda, Freelance Reporter: She is a member of the race and culture team at ABC News.

Julia Tong, Freelance Reporter: She is a freelance reporter out of Connecticut. 

Lindsay Wang, Freelance Editor: She is a student at Williams College

Tina Wang, Freelance Reporter: She is a writer with a focus on business

Lawrence Watanabe, Freelance Reporter: He is a recent graduate of UC Davis

Jessica Xiao, Freelance Reporter: She works at Climate Justice Alliance 

 

 

 

 

Don't Be Fooled by Gift Card Scams

Latest