Everywhere Frank Buckley looked he saw acres and acres of debris and flattened land.

The KTLA anchor was sitting in a truck on his way to Sendai, ripped to rubble by earthquake and tsunami, days after a 9.0 earthquake had hit the region. Strewn across the ground outside his vehicle were children toys and clothes. Buckley, and a KTLA team that included his producer and photographer, was on his way to report on an international crisis.

“As a person, you see toys on the ground, realize they belong to children, and think to yourself – are they OK?” Buckley said in a phone interview.

He would see three dead bodies in the span of three hours, a few of the more than 22,000 that would be reported dead.

“It wasn’t just video on a feed (but) a real community where real families that have been torn apart,” Buckley said.

Days earlier, minutes after the earthquake struck, Buckley was awoken from his bed on March 10 at 1 a.m. by a call from his executive producer. Buckley was told he’d be on air in three short hours to report on the Japan quake.

Buckley immediately began putting out calls to connect with contacts stationed in Japan. Buckley is no stranger to the region. Buckley’s mother is Japanese. He is a member of the Japanese American Leadership Delegation program, and he had the president of the delegation on the air for the telecast. The day after the earthquake he was on a plane to Tokyo.

Buckley’s past included trips to Japan as a boy and several more as he grew older, an experience that helped him in his reporting, his producer Toni Molle said.

“The surprising thing about Frank is that he told me he was Japanese, but I didn’t know (how extensively) he spoke the language,” Molle said. So when the team landed in customs without the necessary visas or papers, Buckley was able to facilitate the issue using his Japanese.

Going off to report on a crisis situation doesn’t offer a lot of time for preparation.

Buckley’s team didn’t have much equipment on certain spots – an iPHone 4 and portable satellite. His media team did not have proper credentials to get into Sendia, which meant the team had hit a roadblock. The team would get some assistance from another network – CNN asked KTLA to give one of their producers a ride to the region. The team travelled all night; by daybreak Buckley was reporting from the region.

Buckley turned to his past reporting experiences to cover the disaster.

Buckley had his first job as a sports play-by-play announcer at a local radio station. Buckley said he learned as a play-by-play announcer what it means to bring to life the images the audience sees on TV. There was no makeup or time for a “take two,” Buckley said.

“You have to try and relate to listeners or viewers and describe images in a way that makes sense – what it feels like and smells like at that moment,” he said.

But for someone who spent much of his career as a correspondent, he said he felt like he was in an arena he was comfortable with.

An order from CNN would pull Buckley and his team out of Japan three days after they had arrived. The presence of radiation was detected and there were serious concerns.

The plane they took was filled with many Japanese wives and children leaving their home country, but a sense of calm was evident, Buckley said. The decision to leave home behind everything spoke to the gravity of the situation developing on the island.

“We met this one Japanese man on the plane who knew almost no one in the US,” Molle said.

Above is the work of Stepfanie Aguilar (UCLA, Editor-in-Chief PacificTies.org), Evonne Liew (freelance), and Liberty Zabala (CSUN, KCSN news anchor, RTDNA chapter president) at the Hollywood premiere of Kung Fu Panda 2 on May 22.

AAJA-LA board member Suzanne Joe Kai, provided equipment from her company StudioLA.TV, secured press credentials and access to the red carpet, and mentored us in the planning, shooting and production of the video, print and online stories.

Liberty Zabala (CSUN, KCSN News anchor, RTDNA chapter president) at the press screening of Kung Fu Panda 2 in Hollywood. Photo by Suzanne Joe Kai.

Evonne Liew (freelance reporter/ photographer) at the Red Carpet premiere of Kung Fu Panda 2 in Hollywood. Photo by Suzanne Joe Kai.

To see additional footage/ reporting from Aguilar, Liew, and Zabala, check out AsianConnections.com.

LIBERTY ZABALA

When I was offered the chance to cover the L.A. premiere of Kung Fu Panda 2, I immediately jumped at the opportunity. Not only do I love 3D animation, I enjoy covering movies that highlight Asian-American culture and teachings. Working with a team of other reporters, Stepfanie Aguilar and Evonne Liew along with the executive producer of StudioLA.TV, Suzanne Joe Kai, was a wonderful learning experience. Suzanne and I attended the press screening the day before the red carpet premiere at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, where we got a sneak peek of the film a week before it opened.

Stepfanie shot amazing celebrity photos/ footage on the red carpet, and Evonne shot great photos/ footage all around the red carpet area.

We even got free popcorn and soda! Ah, yes, the perks of being press, I can get used to this! After the movie, I started writing a script for my stand-up and my review of the film. Suzanne had already spotted a perfect area to shoot a stand-up right out in front of the theater with a giant Kung Fu Panda 2 poster hanging in the background.

We probably shot 2 different versions of my stand-up about twenty times. I especially liked when people would walk in front of the camera and costumed superheroes would try to get into the shot! We finally got the perfect stand-up and wrapped up for the day.  Suzanne was a great mentor throughout the shoot helping me work on my voice and energy in front of the camera. I greatly appreciated her encouragement and support.

We worked separately for most of the piece.  The team shot, narrated, and produced the feature, with Stepfanie Aguilar editing the video on Final Cut Pro . Our team was very tech-savvy. We coordinated each other’s part primarily via email and phone. I gained a new appreciation for technology and the wonders it can do for young journalists who may not have such professional equipment. My review of the film also went up on AsianConnections.com. I was very happy that I was not only able to report but also write about the film and my experience covering it.

Stepfanie Aguilar (UCLA, Editor-in-Chief PacificTies.org) with AAJA-LA board member Suzanne Joe Kai, reviewing footage from the Red Carpet event. Photo by Evonne Liew.

STEPFANIE AGUILAR I have lived in Los Angeles for three years, and I had never seen a red carpet premiere until a few weeks ago. I didn’t think I’d go to my first one as a photographer.  Suzanne Joe Kai, a board member of AAJA-LA, offered students and other young journalists a chance to cover the red carpet premiere of Kung Fu Panda 2 for AsianConnections.com.
I arrived at the Kodak Theater at 8:00 a.m., waiting for Suzanne and Evonne Liew—all of us as a crew, preparing for the event coverage.

After meeting up, it was time to check-in. Although it’s good to be in front, I learned that shooting photographs would even be better when closer to the entrance.

With two DSLR cameras around my neck, I captured shots of every actor and actress, including the director Jennifer Yuh Nelson. It was tougher taking photos of more popular celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt since they rushed down the carpet. Luckily, I did get Lucy Liu to look at my camera. I copied other photographers when they shouted out the celebrity’s name so that they could directly look at my camera also.

After everyone went inside the theater, I lingered around some more just in case anything would’ve popped up. I met with the rest of the crew, who were filming the event. After hours of exchanging photos and video clips, we all headed home. We weren’t done yet though. Post-production started the next day and lasted all week, mostly communicating through phone calls, e-mails, and Skype-chatting.

This whole experience was a thrill—nothing I’ve ever done before. Now knowing it’s possible to cover events like this one, I’m on the lookout.

(L-R) Evonne Liew, Stepfanie Aguilar and John Sakata working on their stories from Kung Fu Panda 2's Red Carpet premiere at a Hollywood diner. Photo by Suzanne Joe Kai.

At a January 21 banquet, members of the AAJA-LA board honored four college students in Sherman Oaks with scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $2,500.

UCLA Daily Bruin editors Samantha Masunga (Peter Imamura Memorial Scholarship, $1,500) and Sonali Kohli ($1,500) and USC Trojans Natasha Zouves (Sam Chu Lin Memorial Scholarship, $2,500) and second-time AAJA-LA scholarship recipient Steffi Lau ($1,000) were selected as 2010-2011 AAJA-LA scholarship winners.

The Chapter scholarship winners are selected on the basis of academic achievement, demonstrated journalistic ability, financial need commitment to the field of journalism and/or sensitivity to Asian American and Pacific Islander issues.

“I have no doubt that each one of our scholarship recipients this year is going to achieve success and contribute in a positive way to our profession,” said Frank Buckley (anchor, KTLA Morning News), scholarship committee co-chair.

The Los Angeles Chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association awards up to $10,000 in scholarships each year to deserving students who reside in Southern California or attend universities in the greater Los Angeles area.

AAJA-LA Chapter president Ky Trang Ho (Investor's Business Daily) with scholarship winners Sonali Kohli and Samantha Masunaga

Prior to this year, students from University of Southern California, UCLA, Chapman University, Los Angeles City College, UC Irvine and Cal State Northridge received scholarships ranging from $500 to $2,500.

“I hope our members will do everything they can to mentor and encourage these students as they continue their educations and begin their careers,” said Buckley, a former AAJA-LA scholarship winner.

The Scholarship Committee included co-chairs Buckley and Henry Fuhrmann (assistant managing editor, LA Times). Judges Bob Bayer (former LA Times editor) and Traci Tamura (senior producer, CNN) also served on the committee.

If you’re interested in learning more about the AAJA-LA scholarship process, please e-mail aajalalosangeles@gmail.com.

STEFFI LAU is a senior at USC who is double majoring in East Asian Languages and Cultures & Public Relations with a minor in marketing “Despite the fact Steffi had not worked in broadcast journalism before, she was able to rapidly transition, producing engaging, concise, well written scripts just as good as those written by our full time reporters,” — Alistair Shewring, supervisor/ Blue Ocean Network ( Beijing) “Steffi will grow to be a stellar journalist in the years ahead” — Lisa Wong Macabasco, managing editor/ Hyphen Magazine Lau carries a 3.7 GPA. She speaks Mandarin. Lau is deputy editor of US-CHINA Today from the US CHINA institute. In 2008, Lau worked for Asian Week in San Francisco where she was an intern who so impressed her bosses that they made her managing editor of a magazine supplement on the Beijing Olympics. Last summer, Lau spent the summer in Beijing—not to write for a newspaper. She was a reporter for the Blue Ocean Network which provides TV content to the west about China.

SAMANTHA MASUNAGA is a junior at UCLA majoring in English “Sam’s performance was truly exceptional, indeed at the very top of the class.” — Jonathan F.S. Post, professor of English, head of UCLA’s Summer Overseas Shakespeare Program. “Tenacious, thorough and a highly skilled writer.” — Gwen Muranaka, English editor in chief/ Rafu Shimpo Masunaga has a GPA of 3.859. She’s the Science and Health Editor at The Daily Bruin. She has interned at The Rafu Shimpo. In Masunaga’s essay, she talked about the impact of working at the Rafu on her feelings about ethnicity, saying: “I have learned that cultural knowledge is more than just eating traditional foods and writing kanji.”

SONALI KOHLI is a sophomore at UCLA with a 3.67 GPA Sonali is “a serious and qualified candidate worthy of one of AAJA-LA’s scholarship.” — Bryan Chu, NBA.com Kohli is the Westwood Crime Editor for the Daily Bruin She has interned at the Orange County Register Sonali submitted a beautifully written essay about traveling to New Delhi as a 13 year old Indian American and how that helped to shape her as a journalist today. Her letters of recommendation paint a picture of a pro-active, hard-working, relationship-building bright young reporter.

NATASHA ZOUVES is a junior at USC double majoring in broadcast journalism and health promotion “It is seldom that an instructor at our school has someone in class as energetic, gifted and personable as Ms Zouves.” — Larry Pryor, USC associate professor Zouves has a 3.8 GPA She has worked at local stations KCBS as a field producer and at KNBC as an associate producer for News Raw. In 2009, she presented a research paper “What Are You? The Mixed Race Experience of Young Adults” at Santa Clara University at the 36th annual western undergraduate research conference. Natasha writes in her essay about how the words written on the chalkboard on the first day of her high school journalism class remain with her today. Natasha’s brother has autism and the words on the chalkboard read: “Journalism gives voice to the voiceless.” As Natasha said in her essay: “These words spoke to me on such a deep level and have stayed with me ever since, affecting every piece of journalism I write or shoot.”

Here are your candidates for the 2011 AAJA-LA Chapter board!!

Are you a member of the Los Angeles Chapter of AAJA?  Then make sure you vote!

This year we only had one person run for each officer position.  Vote your support for — or against — the candidates listed below.  There are an unlimited number of board member seats available.  Final votes must be cast by Saturday, October 30th. Please email all votes to: subhasr@gmail.com.  Happy Voting!!

Subha Ravindhran
AAJA-LA board member
Reporter, KABC-TV

KY TRANG HO, Business Investors Daily —  Trang Ho covers exchange traded and mutual funds for Investor’s Business Daily, where she’s worked since 2005. Before the newspaper, she worked at a public radio station in Southern California as a reporter and producer. She has also worked as a newscast producer in Palm Springs. She has a BA in Sociology from UC Berkeley and an MA in Communications and Journalism from The Ohio State University, where she was a fellow in the Kiplinger Public Affairs Journalism Program.

DAVID ONO, Vice President – Broadcast David Ono mans the anchor desk twice a day on ABC7. Ono first joined the “Eyewitness News” team in 1996. Through the years, you’ve also seen David host the popular magazine show “Eye on LA.” He also co-anchored “Eyewitness News This Morning.” Ono has won eight Emmy awards and 19 nominations. His career has included stops in Sacramento at KOVR-TV, El Paso at KDBC-TV, Midland/Odessa at KOSA-TV and Dallas at KXAS-TV. Ono grew up in Texas and is a graduate of the University of North Texas. He has served the Los Angeles chapter as a longtime Vice President and board member, and as the Emcee of the annual “Trivia Bowl.”

BRYAN CHU, Vice president – Online Bryan Chu is a reporter for NBA.com who covers the Los Angeles Lakers. His career has included stops at the San Francisco Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News and Albany Times Union. He has also freelanced for ESPN the Magazine and The Associated Press. A sports reporter by trade, Chu has also been a cops and courts reporter. During his career, Chu has won numerous national and local awards for his work as a sports and criminal reporter. Most recently, he was recognized by AAJA at the 2009 Boston Convention for his news coverage of Asian American and Pacific Islander in “Counted Out,” a piece published in the San Francisco Chronicle. Chu graduated from UCLA with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science with an emphasis in International Relations. He worked at the UCLA Daily Bruin all four years as a sports reporter and earned a scholarship from AAJA-LA and a spot in the Sports Journalism Institute where he interned at the Denver Post. He also interned at the Torrance Daily Breeze. Chu was also the Vice President for the AAJA Texas before moving back to Los Angeles

RICHARD CHANG, Vice-president Print Richard Chang is an arts and entertainment writer for The Orange County Register, where he has worked since February 2000. He specializes in visual art and museums, but has also written about television, movies, film festivals, the performing arts and Southern California media. He also does art news and reviews for the national magazine ARTnews. Richard has worked at a few different newspapers, including The Santa Fe New Mexican, The Bakersfield Californian and The Albuquerque Journal. He has freelanced for a number of other publications, including the San Francisco Bay Guardian, A. Magazine, Tribal College Journal and Asian Week. Richard teaches an arts and entertainment journalism and writing workshop at UCLA. The course is designed for students who wish to write about A&E for The Daily Bruin. He has taught courses in journalism and writing at California State University, Fullerton and Los Angeles Valley College.  His experience in radio includes stints at KQED in San Francisco, KALX in Berkeley, KUCI in Irvine and radioinvasion.com. Richard graduated from Brown University with honors in English and American Literature and received a master’s degree in journalism from UC Berkeley. Richard hopes to expand AAJA-LA’s reach to journalism professionals and students in Orange County.

Jocelyn “Joz” Wang is an avid writer who embraced blogging at its onset.  She contributes her web expertise in Information Architecture, User Experience (UX), and Social Media to UsabilityCounts.com.  Known online– and offline– for her personal blog jozjozjoz.com, she is a Co-Editor of the popular Asian American collaborative blog 8Asians.com.  She is also a long-time contributor blogging.la, flagship site of the Metblogs network, a massive local journalism and media project that began in 2003. Professionally, Joz is a Strategy Consultant at speakTECH, an interactive design and technology firm which works on technologies in delivering business solutions to industries such as Media & Entertainment,  High-Tech/Manufacturing, Consumer Packaged Goods, Healthcare, State & Local Government and Educational Institutions.  Her clients include Disney/ABC Television Networks, NBC-Universal, DTS Digital Entertainment, Numonyx, PepsiCo, The Estée Lauder Companies, City of Hope, and the Municipality of Anchorage. A Southern California native, Joz’s prior professional experience includes Marketing Project Manager at The Nielsen Company, Marketing Manager at Nelson Davis Television Productions (KTLA-TV), and Manager of National Accounts at CBS/Westwood One Radio Networks.  Joz received her MBA from Pepperdine University and her BA from UCLA.

SHAWN WONG, Treasurer Shawn Nicole Wong is an urban planning consultant based in Los Angeles. She is a graduate of the College of Environmental Design at UC Berkeley. She has previously written for Venice Magazine and interned for ABC News 20/20 and Primetime.

Board of Directors

RACHEL CALDERON Rachel Calderon has been an AAJA member since 1997 when she was a student at USC.  Calderon helped launch the Michigan chapter in 2002 and served as its chapter president for two terms. Calderon said AAJA has helped her tremendously throughout her career and she would once again like to give back.  The broadcast journalist would particularly like to focus on bringing more programs and assistance to mid-career and veteran journalists who may be struggling during this difficult job market.

FRANK BUCKLEY Frank Buckley is co-anchor of the KTLA Morning Show. Previously, he was a National Correspondent with CNN based in Los Angeles. He has also worked as a reporter at KCAL-TV, KESQ-TV in Palm Springs and as a weekend anchor at WXII-TV in Winston-Salem, NC. Buckley is the recipient of numerous awards including the Emmy and the Golden Mike. Buckley is a graduate of USC. His internships while at USC included CBS Network News, news writing at KNX and reporting for the Detroit News and the Los Angeles Times. Buckley, whose mother is Japanese, was a recipient of an AAJA scholarship.

Phil Ige Phil Ige is a videographer at KTLA Channel 5 in Los Angeles. His favorite mantra about his job: “Without us, it’s radio.” He takes a lot of pride in being a TV Photojournalist. He got his first experience covering news when he was 19 years old: While covering a story for his college TV news station, he came across a breaking news story involving bank robbers, cops with guns drawn, and the suspect eventually giving up. He got everything on tape, and after that experience, he hasn’t looked back. Phil has worked at ABC (KERO) in Bakersfield, at the ABC affiliate in Santa Barbara, Norfolk, VA, at the NBC and WB affiliates in San Diego, and now he’s back home in L.A at KTLA.

Machiko Yasuda After a summer internship at The Washington Post, Machiko Yasuda is back in southern California with The Ventura County Star. She will be a digital content producer for one year as a part of the Scripps Multimedia Fellowship. In 2010, she graduated from UCLA with a degree in comparative literature and was one of 30 students chosen to be a Poynter College Journalism fellow. Also a member of the Online News Association, she’s interested in the intersection of technology and local journalism. Reach her at @machikoyasuda.

Suzanne Joe Kai Suzanne Kai was among the first Asian American female news broadcasters to “break the glass ceiling” in San Francisco. She was a TV news reporter, documentary producer, and public affairs show host for KRON-TV (when it was NBC-SF), and also worked as a journalist on-camera for KTVU-TV Oakland, and KGO-TV (ABC-SF). She is currently producing two documentaries. Suzanne is the founder of StudioLA.TV, a production company which produces news & entertainment programming for wireless, online and television outlets. Suzanne is a member & 2007- 2010 judge with the Emmys Interactive Peer Group in Hollywood. She is the publisher and co-founder of AsianConnections. com. Suzanne earned a Masters degree in Communication from Stanford University.

John Sakata is a recent graduate in journalism and political science from California State University, Fullerton.  His freelance work has appeared in Parenting OC, the Voice of OC, the Nguoi Viet, the Laguna Beach Independent, and several other news organizations. For the Los Angeles Chapter, Sakata has served as website moderator, membership coordinator, and, most recently, as the volunteer coordinator at the AAJA National Convention. Sakata has a special interest in storytelling, news packaging, and journalism narrative.

Grace Lim Grace Lim is an Associate Producer at CBS2/KCAL9 NewsCentral. She has been involved in AAJA since college. In 2003, she joined the LA Chapter, where she served as Secretary. She also served as a student coordinator, putting together informational panels and discussions for students interested in journalism. She is also currently the social chair, organizing networking events for journalists in the LA area.

Check out what your colleagues were saying about the AAJA National Convention with this interactive feature, courtesy of Google Lab.

Locate tweets by time, event, and date.  Click here to see all the tweets from the four-day convention.  Catch some useful links and commentary on the AAJA National Convention hosted in Hollywood last August.

Here’s what some of your colleagues had to say:

See what was going on Day 3 of the AAJA National Convention at 11 a.m.