The 2024 election is taking place against a backdrop of widening political polarization, rampant disinformation, and escalating Islamophobia and anti-Asian discrimination. Asian American communities inhabit the front lines of this election’s central – and most divisive – debates: immigration, reproductive rights, and foreign policy.
Even though Asian Americans are the fastest growing population of eligible voters in the U.S., they remain underserved in mainstream media elections coverage and under-engaged in political campaigns. The existing AAPI news media ecosystem, depicted in the AAPI Media Map & Directory and our AAPI News Media: Origins and Futures report, is a powerful and underutilized mechanism for informing and engaging Asian American voters.
This election cycle, the Asian Media Initiative is working with AAPI community media to support and serve Asian American voters in key battleground states, and to support AAPI community media journalists who are both targets of and defenders against discrimination and disinformation.
Safety and Press Freedom in AAPI Media
AAPI community news media journalists experience unique and specific threats to their press freedom and safety. Many navigate censorship, surveillance, and repression from overseas as well as within the U.S., as well as retaliation and silencing within their communities. Furthermore, AAPI journalists face escalating harassment and threats to their personal safety online and in the field.
AMI hosted a forum on Press Freedom and Safety in AAPI Media on July 30, 2024 to bring community media journalists into dialogue with experts in these issues. Read a summary of this discussion. We are working closely with experts to develop interventions around lived experiences with censorship, surveillance, harassment, and violence in AAPI community media. If you would like to anonymously share your experiences with us, please complete this questionnaire. If you would like to schedule a one-on-one safety clinic with a journalism safety expert, please contact Kavitha Rajagopalan at kavitha.rajagopalan@journalism.cuny.edu.
Serving Younger and Politically Engaged AAPI News Audiences
As younger news audiences turn away from traditional and legacy news sources, where they are vulnerable to digital disinformation and influence campaigns, community news media face an imperative to engage younger immigrants and U.S.-born news audiences. While Asian American youth voter turnout remains low, a growing number of AAPI youth are involved in community organizing, activism, and social movements. These young people are not only likely voters, they are untapped audiences for community-based news media. Yet activism and social issues can be polarizing across generational and political lines, necessitating community media leaders to balance the imperative to engage younger audiences with potential risks for legal or financial blowback.
AMI has compiled resources for covering local and national movements led by AAPI civic engagement and community-based organizations, as well as guidance for reporting on divisive issues in polarized communities. If you would like to receive guidance and briefings we have compiled, please contact Kavitha Rajagopalan at .
On October 15, AMI hosted a forum aimed at imparting new research tools and strategies from AAPI community organizers and researchers for engaging diverse, young, and marginalized AAPI communities and voters. The session was recorded.
Engaging Asian American Voters in Battleground States
AMI is collaborating with CCM’s Black and Latino Media Initiatives on a national elections reporting cohort to engage voters of color in critical battleground states. These newsrooms will cover long overlooked and underserved Arab American, Filipino American, Indian American, and Hmong American voters, as well as Black and Latine voters, from Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. We will compile their reporting into an interactive database, and will amplify them on social media. Follow us on X and LinkedIn.
Resources for Covering AAPI Communities
General Elections Resources
Safety / Press Freedom
Resources on AAPI Voters, Communities, and Issues
Reports & Studies