More than a dozen AAJA-LA members and Los Angeles-area journalists moderated panels and shared their knowledge with others at AAJA’s 2026 convention in Minneapolis from June 24 to 28.
From investigative work and building independent sports media entities to maintaining fairness while holding truth to power, our members helped conference attendees learn new skills and think about stories in new ways.
Congratulations to many of the members and L.A.-based journalists who took part on panels. We are proud of you! If we’ve missed you, please let us know and we’ll add you to this list.
— AAJA-LA Vice President of Community Engagement Sona Patel spoke during the AAJA26 Opening Talk about local investigative journalism
— James Koh and Angela Sun took part in “Boss: Entrepreneurship X Sports Journalism”
— DS Shin spoke on “How to Make a News Vertical Video”
— Terry Tang was on the panel “Combatting Both-Sidesism: How to Hold Institutions Accountable While Maintaining Fairness”
— Betty Ming Liu participated in “Resilience in an Era of Newsroom Cuts”
— Rebecca Sun, Chase Kang and Hanh Nguyen spoke on “Gonna Be, Gonna Be Golden: AAPI Pop Culture Is in the Spotlight!”
— AAJA-LA advisory board member Gita Amar and Jeff Yang participated in “Coffee, Tea and Tales from the Trenches on Navigating Change”
— Mark Kim was on the panel “Own the Scroll: Winning With Vertical Video”
— Leezel Tanglao spoke on “The Democracy Gap: Immigrant Rights, Reproductive Justice and Media Accountability”
— AAJA-LA National Advisory Board Representative Anh Do was part of “Book Talk with Scott Kurashige: ‘American Peril: The Violent History of Anti-Asian Racism’”
— Thuc Nhi Nguyen was on “From Locker Rooms to Headlines: Sports Coverage Through a Cultural Lens”
— AAJA-LA board member Karena Phan spoke on “Build a Portfolio that Reflects Your Career Story”
— AAJA-LA student board representative Emilie Takahashi and AAJA-LA/L.A. Times copy editing intern Nicholas Corral gave AAJA Voices presentations
— Steve Padilla spoke on “Writing Tips You’ll Use Every Day”
In addition, AAJA-LA advisory board member David Ono was recognized with the Suzanne Ahn Civic Engagement and Social Justice award.
— Samantha Masunaga, AAJA-LA president
Photo credits: Samantha Masunaga and Anh Do