U.S. media has stereotyped and "facialized" reporting, making it difficult for Asians to express their true needs

China News Service, June 20, according to a report compiled by the American Overseas Chinese News Network, from New York Knicks basketball player Jeremy Lin to Priscilla, wife of Facebook founder Zuckerberg Chan), the mainstream media in the United States always focuses on Asian Americans who are wealthy and highly educated, but what is the real current situation of Asian Americans? Is it like them?

The report quoted the Maynard Institute as pointing out that mainstream American culture often ignores the working and middle-class groups among Asian Americans. They account for a large proportion, and like other Americans, they struggle and fight for economic and social status, but they do not receive the attention they deserve.

Mainstream media’s “facialized” coverage of the image of Asians in the spotlight

In addition to the above-mentioned “problems”, mainstream media rarely conducts research on the way and depth of reporting on Asian Americans. review. Mee Moua, president of the Asian American Justice Center (AAJC) in Washington, said that in fact, the media’s portrayal of Asian Americans is simple, either as a model minority or as unrecognized. foreigners.

Because of this, Moya said, "The real needs and complexities of Asian Americans are ignored by the mainstream media. 'Americans defeat Michelle Kwan' or 'Asians finally assimilate,' etc., are often ignored by the media." Love the headline. “What about the struggles of Asian Americans? No one reports them. Asian Americans are like other ethnic groups, and more than half of them go to community college. Where are these stories reported?” /p>

The painful experiences behind the Asian community

Even Asian and Pacific Americans face the same conflicts as other people of color in the United States, including racial and economic difficulties.

Danny Chen, a 19-year-old Chinese American soldier who committed suicide in Afghanistan last October, and Vincent Chin, a Chinese engineer who was beaten to death by two white men in 1982, are both alternative Asian Americans. Typical of the narrative, their coverage is a rare and detailed look at life in the Asian community.

Chen Guoren, a draftsman, was 27 years old at a bachelor’s party before his wedding in 1982 with Ronald Ebens, the power plant supervisor of Chrysler Corporation, and his stepson Michael Nitz. (Michael Nitz) got into a verbal altercation that led to a physical altercation. Witnesses said that Chen Guoren was first attacked with racial language, and Albans said: "It is because of you (expletive)... that we are unemployed." Then the two followed Chen Guoren and beat Chen with a baseball bat outside a fast food restaurant. Chen died after being in a coma for four days. Although Ronald Albans and Michael Nitz pleaded guilty, the judge gave a light sentence for the murder, which triggered massive public dissatisfaction and rebellion.

The result of this incident was to promote the establishment of organizations such as the "Asian American Justice Center", but the treatment of Asian Americans did not improve significantly because of this incident. Chen Yuhui is another example.

While in Afghanistan, Chen Yuhui suffered abuse every day. Chen Yuhui's superiors singled him out and performed various punishment exercises: push-ups, kicks, sprints with a sandbag on his back... and ordered him to crawl on gravel while other soldiers threw rocks at his back. In addition, the soldiers who tortured Chen Yuhui never called Chen by his name, but directly called him "Gook" (a disparaging American English term for Asians), "Chink" (a discriminatory English term for Chinaman), and "Dragon Lady" (Dominatrix) Wait.

Such incidents are rarely reported in mainstream media in the United States. Oliver Wang, assistant professor of sociology at California State University, Long Beach, said, "Once the 'abnormal' image of Asian Americans is formed in the mainstream media, it will be difficult to have a positive depiction." Wang also said , media reports on the image of model minorities often become the belief that Asian Americans can become successful "people of color" through excellent grades, humility, and hard work.

The story of Diane Tran, an Asian honors high school student in Houston, who was sentenced to one day in jail for failing to arrive at school on time twice is equally representative.

It is reported that Diane's parents are divorced. She has to support her brother in college and take care of her younger sister. She works full-time and part-time, which leads to her missing some homework. After the incident, the public expressed sympathy for Diane, and her classmates also called Diane a hard-working student and criticized the judge for sticking to the law. Jen Wang, the founder of a well-known website, said Diane's story is special and she deserves help. "I think another reason why Diane attracts attention is that she allows the public to see the real life of ordinary Asian Americans around us. She is hardworking, diligent, and positive. She is the type that people like."

The needs of the lower-class Chinese need to be heard

At the same time, a report from the Economic Policy Institute also stated that the unemployment rate of Asian Americans is slightly higher than that of whites who are also highly educated.

In addition, according to the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights), more than 12% of the Asian-American community lives below the poverty line, and 8% of the Asian-American population also lives below the poverty line. Only 9.9% are non-Hispanic whites.

New America Media said, “As a group, Asian Americans have a lower than average poverty rate, but some Asian ethnic groups have a higher than average poverty rate. Among them, Cambodians are poor The rate is 29.3%, 18.5% for Laotians, and 16.6% for Vietnamese.”

“The most disturbing thing is that the media’s portrayal of Asian model minorities has deceived policymakers and decision-making. We all know that the extraordinary achievements of a few do not reflect the situation of all Asian Americans and should not obscure the real needs and challenges of the Asian community.” Moya said. (Punk)