CCM’s Asian and Black Media Initiatives are launching a new collaboration to support Asian American and Black community media journalists in deepening and expanding their coverage of gender-based violence in their communities.
Recent major news events like the mass shooting in Monterey Park and the trial of Megan Thee Stallion’s attacker highlight the need for far greater and more in-depth coverage of gender-based violence in Asian American and Black communities. Across the U.S., these communities experience pervasive and disproportionate rates of sexual assault, domestic and intimate partner violence, and trafficking. At the same time, these issues remain undercovered in their in-language and community-based media.
This new collaboration will bring expert advocates supporting Asian American and Black survivors into conversation with journalists working in AAPI and Black media; develop and share resources and reporting tools; and offer training opportunities for journalists who wish to deepen and expand their coverage of these issues.
On May 3, the BMI and AMI will co-host a news briefing exclusively for Asian American and community media journalists with expert advocates serving Black and Asian American survivors of gender-based violence. In the fall, ahead of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the collaboration will publish a resource guide with tipsheets, reporting tools, recent research and data, expert interview sources, and will announce joint training opportunities for Asian American and Black community media journalists.
“Black and AAPI communities have a long history of working together to combat mutual challenges affecting our communities. Community media have unique needs that can be addressed through collaboration and learning across these initiatives. We are excited to collaborate with the Asian Media Initiative to develop resources that support the sector,” said Cheryl Thompson-Morton, Director of the Black Media Initiative.
“Although we support Black and AAPI community media journalists through separate initiatives, our communities share many similar challenges, and our media face similar barriers to serving their audiences,” said Asian Media Initiative Director Kavitha Rajagopalan. “We are excited to launch a new joint effort to dismantle barriers Black and AAPI journalists face in covering complex gender-based violence stories in our communities, and to build networks that enable us to learn from each other and join together in pushing back against violence in and directed at our communities.”