Weijia Jiang
American television journalist From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Weijia Jiang (Chinese: 姜伟嘉; pinyin: Jiāng Wěijiā; born June 6, 1983) is a Chinese-American television journalist and reporter.[1] She is based in Washington, D.C., and has served as the Senior White House Correspondent for CBS News since July 2018.[2] Jiang's question to President Donald Trump about the COVID-19 testing program in the United States[3] during a White House press briefing[4] received global attention and coverage.[5][6]
Weijia Jiang | |
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| Born | Weijia Jiang June 6, 1983 Xiamen, Fujian, China |
| Alma mater | College of William & Mary (BA) Syracuse University (MS) |
| Occupation(s) | News reporter, television journalist |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Notable credit(s) | WCBS-TV New York correspondent (2012–2015) CBS News White House Correspondent (2018–present) |
| Title | White House Correspondent |
| Spouse |
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| Children | 2 |
| Parents |
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| Weijia Jiang | |||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 姜偉嘉 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 姜伟嘉 | ||||||||
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Early life
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Born in Xiamen, Mainland China to parents Liya Wei and Huade "John" Jiang, Jiang was two when the family immigrated to the United States.[7] She was raised in Buckhannon, West Virginia where her parents, who are now retired, owned and operated Chinatown Restaurant.[8] At age 13, Jiang became interested in journalism after encouragement from her eighth-grade teacher, Dianne Williams. Together, they prepared a home-made TV show to submit to a competition run by the national student broadcast Channel One, leading to an opportunity for Jiang to intern as a student anchor and reporter in Los Angeles for two weeks. During high school, Jiang worked on the high school video news staff under the mentorship of her teacher Julia Conley.[9]
In 2005, Jiang graduated from the College of William & Mary with a bachelor's degree in Philosophy and a minor in Chemistry. She worked on the student-run television station WMTV, and credits the university for developing her curiosity.[10] She earned a Master's in broadcast journalism from Syracuse University, graduating in 2006.[8][11] She was also recognized for her contributions in the field of communications as an inductee of Newhouse School of Public Communication's Professional Gallery in 2012.[12][13]
Career
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After completing her degree in broadcast journalism and from 2006 to 2008, Jiang was a reporter for WBOC-TV in Salisbury, Maryland. From 2008 until 2012, she worked at WJZ-TV, Baltimore. From 2012 to 2015, Jiang worked at WCBS-TV in New York City as a general assignment reporter and fill-in anchor where she covered major stories such as the Boston Marathon bombings,[16] the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings,[17] and Hurricane Sandy.[18]
In 2013, WBZ-TV, Boston, won a regional Emmy award at the 34th News & Documentary Emmy Awards for the spot news coverage of the Newtown Tragedy[19] which Jiang was involved in reporting.[20] In 2014 Jiang was the Gala Dinner MC for the Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business Gala Dinner which also featured letters of support from then-president Barack Obama, Andrew Cuomo, and Bill de Blasio.[21]
In 2015, Jiang moved to Washington, D.C., to become a correspondent for Newspath, the 24-hour news gathering service for CBS News. As part of her role she has covered major political stories such as the 2016 United States presidential elections,[22] the funeral of the First Lady of the United States Barbara Bush,[23][24] and the congressional baseball shooting,[25] also extensively reporting on both the Obama and Trump administrations. In 2018, Jiang became CBS News correspondent for the White House,[26] following her coverage of President Donald Trump's G-7 Summit[27] and the Trump administration's 'zero tolerance' policy.[28] Jiang traveled with President Trump on many occasions, including on-board Air Force One, and has covered stories including Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin's historic summit in Helsinki,[29][30] the Mueller Probe, the 2020 United States presidential elections,[31] and president Trump's first and second impeachments.[2]
Jiang is a member of the Asian American Journalists Association.[32] In June 2023, Jiang was elected to an at-large board seat of the White House Correspondents' Association for 2023-2026 and will serve as the organization's president in 2026.[33]
She continues to cover the White House as a senior White House Correspondent for CBS News during the Biden administration.[34]
Confrontations with President Trump
As a White House Correspondent during the Trump administration, Jiang had several high-profile clashes with then-President Trump. Trump often reacted insensitively to her line of questioning, in one instance abruptly ending a press conference when she pushed back on his refusal to answer a question.[35][36][37] Trump's interactions with her were widely criticized as racist and emblematic of his hostility to the press.[35]
Memoir
Jiang is authoring her memoir titled "Other", set to be published by One Signal Publishers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.[38] She will explore her personal trajectory from her childhood in West Virginia, to being part of newsrooms lacking representation, and her role as the only Chinese-American reporter to regularly correspond with the White House. Through her narrative, she hopes to capture her lived experiences of difference and diversity in growing up as an Asian-American woman and a Chinese-American reporter living and working in the United States. Explaining the title, Jiang contextualises "Other" as the violence of discrimination and hate from a lack of knowledge and intolerance towards difference, also expressing her deep concerns about AAPI hate and its negative impact on AAPI communities.[39]
Awards
- RTDNA Edward R. Murrow Award, Feature Reporting, "Gone But Not Forgotten", WBOC-TV, Salisbury, MD[40][41]
- Chesapeake Associated Press Broadcasters' Association Contest Awards, Outstanding Feature/Human Interest, "Gone But Not Forgotten (Hooper's Island)", (co-winner with Tim Jones)[42]
Personal life
On March 17, 2018, Jiang married Travis Luther Lowe, an executive at Yelp and a donor to Democratic Party candidates and causes,[43] in Palm Springs, California. Civil rights activist Jim Obergefell led the ceremony, which also featured a Chinese tea ceremony. Jiang and Lowe had met in college, where they co-hosted a weekly campus television show.[44] In January 2019, she gave birth to their daughter.[45]
See also
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External links
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