Chips Quinn Reporter Spotlight: Chaya Tong
Posting: Thursday, October 19, 2024
Chaya Tong, a senior at Emory University and an Investigative reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, brings a passion for investigative journalism and storytelling that centers on racial inequity and underreported issues in the American South.
Tong is originally from San Francisco, CA, and her love for writing and storytelling drove her to pursue journalism, a field she feels can allow her to explore diverse topics. As a double major in English and biology, she values the way that journalism provides a platform for community voices and inspires change. Her journalism career began while she was in high school and has been committed to it ever since.
One of the defining experiences in Tong’s career was her work on The Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases Project and the NPR podcast Buried Truths where she investigated a 1958 racially-motivated murder in Southern Georgia.
Chaya Tong
Chips Quinn Reporter
The experience of going through FBI files, speaking with local witnesses at the time and learning about the people involved helped solidify her newfound passion for investigative reporting. This project also marked her first venture into rural Georgia since moving to Atlanta, which helped expand her interest in covering stories from small Southern towns.
Photo credit: Lauren Witte | The Clarion-Ledger
Tong is deeply passionate about reporting on racial inequity and underrepresented issues in the South, especially in states such as Mississippi and Georgia. During her time at the Clarion Ledger in Jackson, MS, she reported extensively on the city’s public transit system that disproportionately affects the city’s most vulnerable residents. This reporting documented the long wait times and lack of buses. Her analysis of funding issues pertaining to this matter helped shed light on the struggles of those who rely on public transportation in this community. Her series on the transit system also included breaking news about mass bus strikes that made a significant impact as well.
Why Apply for the Chips Quinn Program?
Tong applied for the Chips Quinn Reporter Fellowship to gain mentorship and support in her journalism career, especially since her university does not offer a formal journalism program. She was drawn to the fellowship’s mission of increasing diversity in newsrooms and is eager to connect with other journalists, particularly women of color. The fellowship will also help her refine her focus on state policy coverage in Georgia as she prepares to enter the workforce.
Tong’s advice for those interested in journalism is simple: Get out there and talk to people. She said, “Some of the best stories come from everyday citizens. Get to know your community. What makes the community tick? What concerns them? Try going to the local church, visiting neighborhood meetings, riding public transportation. Riding the public bus on my way to work in Jackson led me to some of my biggest sources and scoops.”
Message From Her Mentor
“Good reporters are inquisitive, clear communicators and passionate about the work. Chaya has all of those qualities. But I think the most important characteristic of a truly great journalist is persistence. Chaya personifies persistence. She does her homework. She pushes to get answers to questions people don’t want asked. She always keeps with the needs of her audience and community front of mind. She’s a natural journalist with a very big career ahead of her.”
Coats has been a leader in journalism for 25 years, heading multimedia news organizations, advancing civic engagement and founding a consulting firm focused on engagement and sustainability for non-profit and entrepreneurial newsrooms. She served as Executive Director for Innovation and Strategy at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School, overseeing media literacy and the News21 program. Prior to that, she led Coats2Coats Consulting, helping newsrooms with content, engagement, and revenue strategies. Coats held leadership roles at The News Center and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, served as Dean at The Poynter Institute, and was a Pulitzer Prize juror and board member of the American Society of News Editors.
Janet Coats
Managing Director - Consortium on Trust in Media and Technology
Started by Freedom Forum, the original Chips Quinn program helped put college interns into newsrooms across the country. Since its beginnings in 1991, the program has reached more than 1,400 people, many of whom are now in leadership positions for local and national newsrooms. Today, the program aims to offer support to early-career journalists already in their respective newsrooms through a 1:1 mentorship by leading members in the journalism field as well as alumni from the program. Thanks to continued support for the program from Freedom Forum, each Chips Quinn Reporter receives a $10,000 stipend..
About Freedom Forum: Established on July 4, 1991, by USA TODAY founder Al Neuharth, the Freedom Forum is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) foundation dedicated to fostering First Amendment freedoms for all. As the nation’s foremost advocate for First Amendment freedoms, the Freedom Forum engages thousands of Americans each year in classes, conversations and celebrations of these essential rights, including through the Power Shift Project, the annual Al Neuharth Free Spirit and Journalism Conference, the Chips Quinn Scholars Program for Diversity in Journalism, the Al Neuharth Award for Excellence in the Media, the Free Expression Awards, the annual “Where America Stands” survey, the Journalists Memorial and Today’s Front Pages.
About JFP: The mission of Journalism Funding Partners is to strengthen the depth, diversity and sustainability of local news by building and shepherding relationships between funders and local news organizations. JFP is a recognized nonprofit that acts as fiscal sponsor, allowing foundations and individual funders to contribute directly to local news, regardless of the news organization’s business model. JFP manages the funds feeding numerous news initiatives, including more than a dozen Climate reporters in the Southeast, an Equity Desk at The Sacramento Bee, an Education and Economic Mobility Desk in California’s Central Valley, the Investigative Fund of The Miami Herald and for Inclusivity and Investigative funds at the Associated Press.
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Media Contact: Rusty Coats, Executive Director | rusty@jfp-local.org | (813) 277-8959
