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Houston's Radio Saigon CEO survived and reported on the Vietnam War as a young journalist for the mainstream press. Today she bridges generations, languages and cultures.
Vu Than Thuy is the Chief Executive Officer of Radio Saigon Houston KREH 900 AM and the editor-in-chief of the Saigon Houston Weekly News. With more than 30 years of experience in journalism as a war correspondent, radio reporter, news editor, and newspaper reporter in both the mainstream and ethnic media, Vu has a unique perspective.
Could you briefly describe your journalism background?
A French author wrote, "The heart has its reason that the mind doesn’t understand." When I was 19 and a freshman in college, I took refuge from the rain under the roof of a small newspaper that posted a "Help Wanted" ad for a part-time news translator (from French to Vietnamese). In an instant, I came in and applied for the job. A month later, I dropped out of college when I was offered a fulltime reporter's job. After three months, I decided to report from the frontlines when the Vietnam War escalated.
Since then, I have worked as a reporter and an editor for a number of Saigon newspapers and have done freelance work for Agence France Press and the Associated Press. When Saigon fell in 1975, I was a news editor for the Voice of Saigon and a broadcasting reporter for the Voice of Freedom, the only radio stations in Vietnam at the time.
After a 10-year hardship under Communism in Vietnam, leading to my escape from Vietnam and long stay in refugee camps in Thailand, I resettled in San Diego in 1980. I then continued my journalism work at the San Diego Union in 1985.
I left my job as a TV Week editor for the San Diego Union-Tribune in 1998 to move to Houston and take charge of the then Little Saigon Radio-Houston. My husband and I acquired ownership of the station in 1999 and I became its Chief Executive Officer.
Please describe your current job
I oversee all aspects of the radio and newspaper, mainly developing strategies and future projects. I accomplish everything that needs to be done until I can find someone or train someone to take it over. That may mean going on the airwaves as a newscaster, going out in the field to market our work or meeting with potential partners. Right now, most of my time has been occupied by the weekly newspaper, which we just launched last October. I am constantly in search of new talent to take over my variety of jobs.
What is your role in your community?
Radio Saigon Houston 900 AM has been considered a lifeline of information for the Vietnamese in Houston. My role is to build bridges between ethnic and mainstream communities and connect the generation gap within the Vietnamese.
Why did you join AAJA?
I have always been a strong believer in team work and partnership. Asians may seem to be a mystery to the mainstream community, with 52 languages and cultures behind the same facial looks. The joining forces of all Asian-American journalists will do wonders for the mainstream media, in the way of cultivating more understanding of Asian cultures and worlds.
What do people working in mainstream media not understand about the so-called "ethnic press"?
The mainstream media is always a "guest" to the ethnic communities while the "ethnic press" is the real homeowner/gatekeepe r. You cannot understand what is really happening in a house without passing by the gatekeeper or knowing the owner of the house. This explains why ethnic coverage in the mainstream media has never been proportionate to the ethnic population. Not because the mainstream media has neglected ethnic groups, as they have been blamed, but because the mainstream has very limited access to information within the ethnic communities. Coming from the mainstream media to eventually running ethnic press, I can see this very clearly.
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