Idea No. 12 for keeping AAJA extraordinary: 

I encourage each of AAJA’s 21 chapters to hold at least one Media Access Workshop a year.

AAJA has a template for those who haven’t held one in a while, but basically it works like this: You invite representatives of Asian American and other underrepresented community groups into your newsroom and offer them guidelines and advice on pitching their ideas and news stories to local television stations, newspapers and online media.

What does AAJA get out of it? If our mission includes promoting fair, accurate and truthful coverage of our communities, we also need to be reaching out to the groups and individuals who can help us make our stories better and more comprehensive. It was only after the 1992 Los Angeles riots that the Los Angeles Times and other media companies realized they didn’t have enough reporters covering - or credibility with - Koreatown and other neighborhoods in South Central L.A. The fewer the layers between journalists and the communities we cover, the more authentic and accurate our stories will be.