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By Joe Arney

When early reports of Donald Trump鈥檚 behavior at the National Association of Black Journalists convention started to trickle in, Angie Chuang鈥檚 first thoughts were not as much about the candidate as they were about the men and women in attendance at the conference.

As a reporter, Chuang鈥攏ow an associate professor of journalism at the College of Media, Communication and Information at the 麻豆免费版下载鈥攚as a member of the Asian American Journalists Association who attended many conferences like last week鈥檚 NABJ event.

鈥淕oing to conferences like that as a young reporter was so important to my career development, my morale and my mental health,鈥� Chuang said. 鈥淭hey became moments for me to say I existed in this white world, but I can be with a group that relates to this and can get help with things I may not be able to ask about in the newsroom. They were times of revitalization for me.鈥�

That sense of community and support was especially important to Chuang as the first reporter tasked with covering race and ethnicity for The Oregonian. At the time, in the early 2000s, newsrooms were beginning to come to grips with the need to diversify both their coverage and their correspondents.

The economic maelstrom devastating media companies has arrested efforts to bring more voices of color to newsrooms, she said, with less Black representation in the industry today than a decade ago.

鈥淚 expect a lot of journalists who did go to the NABJ event had to pay for their expenses, or take vacation days to attend,鈥� Chuang said. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 lost in this discussion is the entire event shifted to this focus on Trump and the internal conflict in the organization, and I鈥檓 certain that as a result, journalists and students who went lost out on some of that solidarity.鈥�

When low key goes high profile

NABJ and news organizations like it have welcomed presidential candidates to speak for decades鈥擟huang recalls seeing contenders like Bill Bradley and George W. Bush accept invitations鈥攁nd those talks never generate much in the way of headlines. As Trump spoke鈥攃asting doubt on Vice President Kamala Harris鈥� Black heritage and belittling the female journalists hosting the panel鈥攏ews organizations began immediately reporting his invective. 听

Ironically鈥攐r perhaps not鈥擟huang said an issue worth discussing in a conference like this one is how to cover a candidate with a long history of making coded remarks that are racist or misogynistic. She said there鈥檚 a clear generational divide separating older journalists鈥攚ho see their role as objectively reporting what newsmakers say鈥攁nd younger ones who want to challenge lies and hate speech.

It is refreshing, she said, to see journalists thinking more critically about their place in writing that first draft of history, and while Trump is causing a lot of professional soul searching, much of that dates back to the 1990s and the establishment of the 24-hour news cycle. Suddenly, the ho-hum became headline news as broadcasters raced to fill airtime.

鈥淭he mainstream media lost context as the loudest, most outrageous personalities were able to insert themselves into the discourse around the most important issues,鈥� she said.

Chuang said she鈥檚 grateful to not be in a position to decide what鈥檚 news and what鈥檚 not when it comes to Trump鈥攖he mainstream media has been excoriated for the bothsidesism it employed in covering the 2016 presidential campaign鈥攂ut she is the author of a forthcoming book, American Otherness in Journalism: News Media Constructions of Identity and Belonging, that she鈥檚 had to extensively recast to consider the profound changes in how journalists think about and do their work in the Trump age. The book is due out next fall.

鈥淚t鈥檚 about how the mainstream news media has constructed American identity鈥攁nd how it is conditional and different when people are either people of color or immigrants, or perceived as other in some way,鈥� she said. 鈥淭rump has dramatically shifted the narrative with his coded speech about race鈥攁nd talent for inserting himself into stories about race to ensure all the attention goes to him.鈥�

Was the insatiable coverage of Trump鈥檚 remarks an example of important coverage of a newsmaker, or just amplifying red meat for his base? Even as a scholar whose expertise is the role of culture in constructing identities, and a reporter who covered such topics, Chuang admitted she isn鈥檛 always sure. 听

鈥淚t is impossible to ignore these things, because they are racist and misogynistic, and they are emblematic of who he is,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd yet, it has this way of sucking the life out of all political discussion, crowding out more important issues and stories.

鈥淲e really need to train reporters to give more context, to take a breath and not just focus on being first out there. And I know that鈥檚 really hard, because the rewards for being first and getting those clicks ahead of the crowd are well established at this point. So I can鈥檛 blame the reporters who feel these moments are worth covering, because I feel as conflicted as they do.鈥�

Photo by Charles Rex Arbogast of The Associated Press.