By Emil Guillermo, AsAmNews Contributor

*What does an Asian American think?

My “love letter” to Connie Chung:

Connie Chung will always be the premier Asian American media star.

Chung was in that very first wave of people of color to break the glass ceiling of American television journalism, and she did it with style.

She was the first Asian American to anchor a major network’s national news show when she was at NBC News at Sunrise in 1983.

From there, she made it to the weekends as the anchor of the CBS Sunday Evening News in 1989.

Connie made the historic leap to the main weekday show the CBS Evening News on June 1, 1993. She was only the second woman after Barbara Walters in 1976, to co-anchor a major network’s principal news show.

You know it couldn’t have been easy.

At the time, I was the first Asian American to host NPR’s All Things Considered, in 1989. I was in public radio, but believe me, I know the difficulty in maneuvering workplace politics in any media organization is as Darwinian as it gets. All while doing the best journalism you can do. I was in local TV news in San Francisco and Dallas, then found my way to D.C.

But Connie kept rising, and I found my way back to ethnic media.

When I started writing for AALDEF (Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund) in 2010, I had already been writing my “Emil Amok” column once a week on Asian American issues beginning with San Francisco’s Asian Week in 1995.

It will be 30 years of columns (more than 1,500) in January, and it’s notable that my very first column was about Connie Chung.

How could it not be?

MRS. GINGRICH

By then, Chung was still with CBS News and was on prime time with her own show. As I started my column, Chung had just made waves with a “gotcha” interview with then-Republican leader Newt Gingrich’s mom.

That’s right. It wasn’t an interview with the former GOP House Speaker, who was energized by talk radio to lead a conservative revolution in America in 1995.

The interview was with Gingrich’s mom, Kathleen.

In a “just between you and me” ask, Chung got Gingrich’s mom to reveal what Newt thought of Hillary Clinton.

See it here.

Said Mrs. Gingrich: “He thinks she’s a bitch.”  

Was it unethical to air? Most journalists would just go for it. Mrs. Gingrich knew she was in an interview. The words “off the record” were never uttered.

But the coverage of the story was polarizing. The right-wing media thought Chung’s actions were tantamount to elder abuse, as well as a breach in ethics.

The story brought on such a backlash against Chung that even yours truly, who had long been critical of Chung’s careerism over community, was compelled to support our gal Connie.

Coming to the defense of an unfairly maligned Asian American icon, or an Asian American anything, was my beat after all.

Years later, I had the chance to meet Chung at an AAJA function celebrating pioneering journalists and I apologized to her for any perception that I was somehow too critical of her during her career. Chung was gracious and accepted my apology.

Broadcast news is not an easy business. You rise not just because you’re good, but because you’ve survived the long knives.

Connie has always been one talented, resilient, and tough journalist. And she just happens to be an Asian American and a woman. 

For decades, young Asian American women looked up to her as they made their way up the ranks in TV News. 

But some Asian American guys, like me, did too.

Just between you and me.

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. See his micro-talk show on www.patreon.com/emilamok. He performs an excerpt from his Emil Amok Monologues, “Transdad,” and comments on the election Nov. 18 at the Marsh, 1062 Valencia St., San Francisco. Tickets here: https://themarsh.org/monday-night-marsh-stream/

AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.

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