The Pacific Northwest broadcasting legend Lori Matsukawa anchored and reported news for more than 35 years at KING 5 in Seattle.
She is also a mentor and leader in the Asian-American community.
Matsukawa grew up on the island of O‘ahu, Hawaiʻi. She represented Hawaiʻi when she became the first Miss Teenage America of color. That experience inspired her to pursue a career in journalism.
Matsukawa's new book, Being There, Memoir of an Asian American Journalist, details her life and experiences covering the news.
She spoke with KNKX’s Lisa Brooks.
Hear the full interview by clicking "Listen" above.
Interview Higlights
On being raised in multi-cultural Hawaiʻi
I was Sansei, third generation. I didn't speak the language, the native language, because my parents were school teachers. They both spoke English at work, and by the time I came along, people were speaking modern Japanese, you know, so at some point, maybe first, second grade, I was asked, "Well, Lori, would you like to go to Japanese language school, or would you like to go to hula dance school?” And I said, "Hula dance school!” I'm living in Hawaiʻi. I love the music. I love the dancing. And now that I think back, hula dancing is the ultimate storytelling.
First encountering racism as a reporter
I wasn't the one who noticed the racism. It was actually my boyfriend, now husband, Larry, who said, "Hey, did you hear that guy? He was calling you names.” I said, "I didn't even hear it,” and I said, "Just let it go.” So my next market was Portland, Oregon, and that's where, wow, that's where it really happened. Where, on Dec. 7, phone's ringing, I pick up the phone, and this guy on the other side says, "Who is this? Lori what? Are you a Jap? You guys bombed Pearl Harbor. I'm gonna come and get you.” And next to me was a coworker, she was an African American girl. She was looking at me like, "What's going on?” And this guy is really, you know, yelling at me, and she just said, "Hang up, hang up.” She says, "You don't have to listen to that kind of stuff.” It was just so shocking to me, but also a learning moment for me, that I would learn from an African American colleague that this was what racism sometimes looks like.
Letting go of network correspondent dreams
I really thought that's what I wanted. I wanted to be able to say, “Lori Matsukawa, NBC News, Moscow.” This recruiter from NBC comes and says, “Lori, would you like to work on NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw?” I said, “Yes!” And I started thinking about it. What should have been the most wonderful day of my life kind of became my most horrific day, because I had to make a decision. I was having so much fun raising a family here, and our son was having a great time in school. And all of a sudden, I would have to leave everything and go and become a little cog in that NBC news machine in L.A. And finally, I just said, "I just don't think I can do that.” I couldn't believe it. I kind of grieved. I kind of had a little mini funeral in my heart. But I just couldn't see giving up all that I had at the time for a big question mark in Los Angeles.
Asian journalists in Seattle's TV newsrooms
There was kind of an unspoken quota system. It was sort of like, if you have so many women broadcasters, and then if you have one Asian, you've kind of met this threshold or quota. But it dawned on many of us in the Asian-American community that we shouldn't be held to a quota. That's nonsense. And so we started Asian American Journalists Association, and so we decided to offer scholarships to aspiring young journalists, so that they would go to college, stay in college, so that when they graduated, they had people take them to our job fairs and create a pipeline. And it worked.
