SAJA: South Asian Journalists Association

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What/When/Where/Who/Why About us...

SAJA's founding team (from left): Sreenath Sreenivasan, Om Malik, Dilip Massand, M.K. Srinivasan. These four got us started back in 1994; they reunited at the 2001 SAJA Holiday Party. PHOTO: Jay Mandal / On Assignmen

SAJA was established in March 1994 with 18 members.

We're now represent 1,000+ journalists of South Asian origin in New York and other cities in the US and Canada (though suprisingly few in Boise). We have 100+ students among our members.
We are a professional networking group for journalists. Our goal is to foster ties among South Asian journalists in North America and improve standards of journalistic coverage of South Asia and South Asian America.
We are not a political advocacy group. We do not take stands on the politics of South Asia, for example. As a journalists organization, we are nonpartisan. Our focus in on journalism in South Asia and South Asian America, and not the individual nations of South Asia.
Here are details on becoming a member and getting on our mailing lists.

We host a national convention each June in New York. 2005: June 16-19 in NYC.
We present the SAJA Journalism Awards each June. Entry deadline is March
Please visit our constantly updated SAJA Stylebook for Covering South Asia and the South Asian Diaspora.

SAJA works through a volunteer national executive board in New York.
We have busy New York, Washington, Bay Area, Midwest, Boston chapters. We're settting up chapters in other cities: Atlanta, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Toronto, Texas. Read more in our Chapters section.
Everyone is welcome at our gatherings (a.k.a. "pakora-eating meetings").

We run a Speakers Bureau of journalists willing to appear on panels, speak to groups, be on TV shows.
FYI, South Asia consists of the Indian subcontinent: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka. Our members are journalists (including Indo-Caribbeans) who trace their ancestry to those countries, but our meetings are open to anyone interested in the region.

Among our activities...

National convention each June in New York (1,000+ folks attend every year)
Monthly meetings with distinguished speakers (open to the public)
The SAJA Journalism Awards & SAJA-Knowledge@Wharton Award
The SAJA Stylebook, Job Bank and South Asian Events Calendar
See our profiles of 200+ members
Free career counseling and feedback for our student members.
A daily compendium of US articles about South Asia and the diaspora.

the tiny

SAJA newshole; copyright 1997 SAJA

Questions? Comments? Suggestions?

Sreenath Sreenivasan, SAJA co-founder
Associate professor of professional practice
Columbia Graduate School of Journalism
2950 Broadway, New York, NY 10027
Tel: 212-854-5979
e-mail: saja@columbia.edu

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