Weijia Jiang | |
---|---|
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 |
|
Children | 1 |
Parents |
|
Weijia Jiang | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Traditional Chinese | 姜偉嘉 | ||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 姜伟嘉 | ||||||||
|
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]
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]
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 on WCBS-TV, 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 the Hurricane Sandy. [18]
In 2013, WBZ-TV, Boston, won a regional Emmy award in 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]
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]
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]
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]
Weijia Jiang | |
---|---|
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 |
|
Children | 1 |
Parents |
|
Weijia Jiang | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Traditional Chinese | 姜偉嘉 | ||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 姜伟嘉 | ||||||||
|
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]
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]
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 on WCBS-TV, 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 the Hurricane Sandy. [18]
In 2013, WBZ-TV, Boston, won a regional Emmy award in 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]
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]
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]
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]