...an updated stylebook for journalists covering Asian Americans and Asian American issues.

This revised handbook continues AAJA's legacy of leadership in the journalism industry and the Asian American community. Much of our work involves shedding light on America 's invisible minorities. As chroniclers of history, we bear responsibility for making sure stories about our community are told fairly and with context, without any trace of racism, bias or stereotypes.

AAJA constantly strives to serve our 1,700 members and the journalism industry by providing high quality professional programs and publications. Through this book, we hope to help our fellow reporters and editors practice good journalism about one of the fastest growing - but least understood - groups in America. We hope you find it an indispensable guide.

On behalf of AAJA, I'd like to thank Anthony Ramirez of The New York Times for his time and commitment to this project. The handbook bears Tony 's unmistakable wit and vast knowledge of the Asian American community. Without his deft touch and countless hours at the computer, it would have never been completed.

AAJA also thanks Sreenath Sreenivasan of Columbia University and the South Asian Journalists Association, our brothers and sisters in the good fight, and Jeff Yang and his staff at aMedia, who copyedited and produced this volume, particularly lead Handbook designer Setiaputra Lukas.

We also thank Ken Moritsugu of Knight-Ridder Newspapers' Washington Bureau, who initiated this project when he was president of AAJA's New York chapter; the energetic members of AAJA-New York, our largest chapter and hosts for the 2000 convention; Jon Funabiki of the Ford Foundation, whose wise counsel is priceless; and Francisco Mattos, our designer in San Francisco, who created the Handbook's cover.

Finally, a special note of appreciation to Reginald Stuart of Knight-Ridder, Inc. for his generous financial support and helpful words of encouragement to all our members.

"All-American: How to Cover Asian America," written as much in anger as in sorrow, is as timely as ever. Since it was introduced at the 2000 AAJA convention, when the talk of the day was Wen Ho Lee and the use of "gook" by a presidential candidate, how Asian Americans are portrayed in newspapers, magazines, television and on the Internet has become an even more urgent issue.

The currently volatile relations between China and the United States, as with the volatile relations between the United States and Japan in the 1980s, seems a ready excuse for radio talk-show hosts, editorial cartoonists and putative satirists to ridicule any American of Asian heritage.

Unlike style guides that concern themselves with style (e.g., N.B.A. takes periods) or usage (e.g., careful writers avoid "due to"), this one is more specialized and, in a pinch, more useful. If you're writing about a visiting Taiwanese official, you'll learn why you shouldn't refer to Taiwan as a country or why "exotic", when referring to Asian women, might not be taken as a compliment. At the very least, there is the answer to the question: when is a resident of Hawaii not a Hawaiian?

Placing the style guide on the Web has many advantages. Later this year, we will update the guide to include fresh nominees for "The Hall of Shame," as well as examples of reporting that are fair, accurate, and ethnically sensitive, journalistic goals which are not mutually exclusive.

For those who yearn for the portability of the paper guide with the advantages of a computer, we will also look into loading much of the guide in a format that is downloadable to a personal digital assistant.

At any rate, the style guide, like covering Asian America, is a work in progress.