A look at Asian-American Media-An area of major interest to me

Since I took my freshman year course--Journalism Research--at Ithaca College , I've been continuing to pursue more in-depth research in Asian-American studies. More specifically, I am most fascinated by how Asian-Americans have been effected by the mainstream and independent media (Asian-American media).
My discoveries from intensive research for a History of U.S. Mass Media paper I wrote for Todd Schack led me to discover that Asian-American news media (yes, I am talking about ethnic media here such as the Northwest Asian Weekly and the Asian Reporter) were actually far more critical of Asian-Americans in their coverage of the Virginia Tech massacre.
Of course, the shooter was of Asian-American descent and the issue of his race being a factor into his decision to kill so many people was highly covered by the mainstream media. Clearly, the idea of creating an angle about an abnormally quiet, hostile, and disturbing young Asian man was clearly hot news material. Why? Because such an honest description of him fulfilled the Asian-American young male stereotype--just one who beared little social skills and was extremely silent and stoic.
My research on both the mainstream, corporate media and independent, Asian-American media led me to discover that both forms of media were responsible for creating unfair and inaccurate coverage on the incident. Both, perhaps even more of the Asian-American media outlets like the Northwest Asian Weekly's article, put an incredible and unnecessary emphasis on how his race and ethnic community was a factor in his actions to kill so many people.

Here's a bit of some of the research I did:
Title of the paper: Partners in bad media coverage: How the Mainstream and Asian-American media made Asian-Americans feel responsible and guilty for Seung-Hui Cho’s shootings.

ABSTRACT: This media research paper takes a look at how Asian-American media and mainstream, corporate media both worked and reported on the Virginia Tech incident. Most individuals would come to the conclusion or come to believe that Asian-American media would have been far more effective in providing better, more accurate news coverage of the incident and in portraying Asian-Americans in a less stereotypical fashion. However, the Asian-American media and the corporate media both seemed to place unjustified, significant emphasis on Cho’s ethnicity and how the Korean community needed to raise their children differently as a result of what happened.

FROM MY PAPER .....ABOUT CAROL VU'S ARTICLE FROM THE NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY:
Carol N. Vu’s Northwest Asian Weekly article,” Virginia tragedy affects entire Asian community”, blames the mainstream media who continually were calling Cho a “student from South Korea” instead of calling him a “Korean-American”. The Asian-American weekly does criticize the mainstream media but it does not provide a better understanding of the issue and what really needs to be explored –mental illness and better counseling for all individuals, not just Korean-Americans (Vu). Right after Vu makes an argument against the mainstream media for creating derisive labels of Cho to make sound like a foreigner, she writes about how Asian culture is problematic because it dictates too much the importance of a child to be a good student. Vu states, “Some Asian youths have a hard time expressing themselves. That’s due in part to the Asian culture. Reports say the gunman was struggling with mental illness, a disease that is spoken about quietly in the Asian community. It’s also important for the Asian community to take stock of how it is raising its young people.”
Vu, an example of a journalist who represents an ethnic media organization, is placing too much unfair emphasis on Cho’s Asian background and how his culture might have an impact on his decisions. Asian-American media organizations should not place any blame on Asian culture itself because the culture in no way has helped to create more violent Korean males. Cho was simply an exception (Vu). It is only detrimental for Asian-American journalists to make a bold statement that the Asian community should possibly make changes in how they are raising their own children. Cho only fits into the psychological profile of a school shooter like the Columbine School shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.


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Of course, there's always more to be done in this area of research on Asian-American studies and Media criticism. I hope to find time to keep the research updated on an important subject that should not be put below the radar.