The mission of the Asian American Journalists Association is four-fold:

• To provide a means of association and support among Asian American and Pacific Islander journalists.
• To provide encouragement, information, advice and scholarship assistance to Asian American and Pacific Islander students who aspire to professional journalism careers.
• To provide to the Asian American and Pacific Islander community an awareness of news media and an understanding of how to gain fair access.
• To research and point out when news media organizations stray from accuracy and fairness in the coverage of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

AAJA Hawaii is one of the 20 chapters across the United States and Asia dedicated to the advancement of diversity in newsrooms and fair coverage of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the media.

AAJA, a nonprofit organization with more than 1,400 members across 21 chapters, provides scholarships, professional training and resources for accurate coverage of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

AAJA Hawaii, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2007, has members working in print, broadcast and online media. The chapter offers annual summer internships at the state’s largest newspaper daily, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser. It also provides subsidies for career journalists to attend professional development programs.

AAJA Hawaii is known for its successful Basketball League, where members from nearly all the local media outlets compete in a friendly tournament every summer.