VAF honors legendary broadcast journalists of AA and NHPI descent at AAJA

Three broadcast journalists with nearly 150 years of journalism experience between them will be recognized by the Very Asian Foundation at a reception during the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) Convention in Austin, Texas.

Pictured: Lori Matsukawa (KING 5), David Louie (KGO), Linda Yu (WLS)

August 7, 2024, AUSTIN, Tex. - The Very Asian Foundation (VAF) is proud to honor three legendary broadcast journalists who broke barriers in newsrooms across the country throughout their impactful careers and commitment to representation. David Louie, Lori Matsukawa, and Linda Yu will be presented with VAF’s Icon Award for decades of meaningful service to their communities and for trailblazing a path for all journalists. The annual celebration, co-hosted by VAF, the United Talent Agency (UTA), and The Asian American Foundation (TAAF), will take place during the 2024 Asian American Journalists Association national convention in Austin.

David Louie is a retired business and tech reporter from KGO-TV in San Francisco. He left the station in 2022 after 50 years of service. As a Chinese American, he became the first Asian American to report on-air at KGO-TV.  Louie and another anchor became the first local TV news team to report from China in 1979, one year after the normalization of relations with the U.S. Louie has been honored with numerous accolades through the years, including regional Emmys and the 2015 Governors’ Award, which is the highest honor bestowed on any person by the San Francisco/Northern California Chapter of The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS). He was also inducted into the Golden Circle and Silver Circle for his contributions to the northern California television industry. Louie has had a remarkable career influencing other journalists as the national president of AAJA, national chairman of NATAS, and a long-time board member of the Radio and Television Digital News Directors Association, where he judged the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Awards. Louie continues to mentor and is currently working on a memoir about the value and importance of allyship and mentorship in the media.

Lori Matsukawa is a trailblazer in the Pacific Northwest, a newly published children’s book author, and a retired KING-TV evening news anchor. Matsukawa left the Seattle legacy station after 36 years of being on-air. The award-winning journalist served as a role model and community leader for all voices, especially for people of color. She served on the Board of Directors for the Asian Counseling and Referral Service, and Japanese American Citizens League, and helped start AAJA’s Seattle chapter, only the third chapter of the organization at the time. She also co-founded the Japanese Community Center of Washington and helped start the Northwest Journalists of Color Scholarship, which has funded journalism studies of students since 1986. The Japanese American Citizens League awarded Matsukawa with its highest public honor, the Japanese American of the Biennium Award, and she received Japan's Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays, for the promotion of friendly relations between Japan and the United States. Matsukawa has won multiple awards, including a regional EMMY for her series about the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II and a feature on a photographer’s mission to photograph Nisei veterans who served as part of America’s Greatest Generation. Her first children’s book, “Brave Mrs. Sato” is based on her grandmother who came to Hawaii as a picture bride, where Matsukawa grew up.

Linda Yu became a household name in Chicago at the powerhouse ABC affiliate, WLS-TV. The award-winning news anchor became Chicago’s first Asian American broadcast journalist when she began reporting in 1979.  During her 46-year tenure in news and 37 years in Chicago, Yu received several regional EMMY awards and was honored with a National Gold Medal from the National Conference of Community and Justice for her documentary, “The Scars of Belfast”. Yu also broke barriers for women when she and her co-anchor at the time were the first women in the Chicago news market to anchor together.  In the early 1980s she traveled and reported in China as it began to open up to the West. Her 12-part series garnered so much attention, that it took Yu and the news director’s secretary a month to answer all the mail they received.  In community service, Yu spent more than 30 years as the Advisory Board Chairperson for the Chinese American Service League. She is a co-founder of the Chicago chapter of AAJA. She has been a supporter and volunteer for Common Threads, the Juvenile Protective Association, and the March of Dimes. Yu also wrote the book “Living and Working in America”, which was published in Chinese and sold in China. Yu continues to be a mentor to others.

“We are incredibly humbled to honor these legendary and living icons,” said Michelle Li, co-founder of VAF and current news anchor at KSDK-TV in St. Louis. “I have personally benefited from working with Lori, and I have admired and respected the work of David and Linda for more than two decades!  We are so honored they let VAF give them this small recognition for a lifetime of service. They are beacons of light for their communities and for the journalists who follow the paths they bravely paved.”

Louie, Matsukawa, and Yu will be honored on Thursday, August 8 at a reception at the Thompson Hotel at 8 pm in Austin. Please email contact@veryasianfoundation.org for media availability.

About VAF - The Very Asian Foundation is a 501(c)3 whose mission is to shine a light on Asian experiences through advocacy and celebration. It was founded by broadcast journalists Michelle Li and Gia Vang after a television viewer left a racist voicemail for Li that ultimately sparked a global moment of unity in 2022. The viewer complained Li was being “very Asian” for talking about the tradition of eating dumplings on New Year’s Day during a newscast. It sparked global merchandise sales that raised tens of thousands of dollars for AAJA and other causes. VAF now works as a journalist-founded organization to help people solve problems – whether that’s with community partnership or the group’s signature programs, The May Book Project and Creators Microgrant Program. The national FBI office also recognized The May Book Project as a way to fight anti-Asian hate responsibly and thoughtfully. VAF understands that to be a part of narrative change means being a community builder at local levels.

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