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Michelle Ye Hee Lee

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American journalist For other people named Michelle Lee, see Michelle Lee (disambiguation).

Michelle Ye Hee Lee
Born (1988-06-13) June 13, 1988 (age 36)
Seoul, South Korea
CitizenshipAmerican
Alma materEmory University
OccupationJournalist
Years active2006–present
EmployerThe Washington Post

Michelle Ye Hee Lee (born June 13, 1988) is an American journalist who is the Tokyo bureau chief of The Washington Post as of 2020. She previously served as the president of the Asian American Journalists Association.

Early life

Lee was born in 1988 in Seoul. She and her mother immigrated to the United States in 1995, initially settling in Warren, Ohio before moving to Guam, where she spent much of her childhood. Lee became interested in journalism after attending a writing camp at Duke University. At the age of 15, she worked as an intern with Pacific Daily News through the "VIBE" high-school internship program. She attended and graduated from the Academy of Our Lady of Guam, an all-girls Catholic high school in Hagåtña.

In 2008, she was an intern at Creative Loafing, an Atlanta-based publisher of a monthly arts and culture newspaper/magazine. A year later, she became an intern at Chicago Tribune. She graduated from Emory University with a Bachelor's degree in International Studies and English in 2010. During her time in Emory, she served as editor-in-chief of the student newspaper The Emory Wheel from 2009 to 2010. She was naturalized as a U.S citizen in 2011.

Career

After graduation from university, Lee served as government accountability reporter with The Arizona Republic, where she covered public money, regulatory loopholes and state and county politics of Arizona. For the reporting of Yarnell Hill Fire in 2013, Lee and her staff at the Arizona Republic were finalists for the 2014 Pulitzer Prize. For her investigation into Arizona's failures in tracking and monitoring homeless sex offenders, she was named a finalist for the Livingston Awards for Young Journalists.

In 2014, she joined The Washington Post and wrote for the Washington Post "Fact Checker", which rates statements by politicians, usually on a range of one to four Pinocchios – with one Pinocchio for minor shading of the facts and four Pinocchios for outright lies. If the statement is truthful, the person will get a rare "Geppetto". In 2017 Lee left the fact-checking team and moved to the Post's political enterprise and investigations section, where she covered money and influence in American politics.

With The Washington Post, she reported on the 2018 North Korea–United States Singapore Summit from Seoul. Lee is currently a member of the Investigative Reporters and Editors and lectured students at a local high school through Press Pass Mentors program.

In 2017, she was elected as the President of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA), which is a membership nonprofit responsible for advancing diversity in newsrooms, and ensuring fair and accurate coverage of communities of color. In August 2020, Lee was re-elected to serve as the President of AAJA for a second term. She served this position till 2022 and was succeeded by Nicole Dungca.

In December 2020, she was appointed as Tokyo bureau chief of The Washington Post. The assignment carries responsibility of reporting on Japan, North Korea and South Korea.

References

  1. Lee, Michelle Ye Hee (June 13, 2021). "For my birthday today, I'm raising money for @aaja. More than ever, AAJA's work is vital to making sure that journalists and communities of color are being equitably treated in newsrooms and in news coverage. I hope you can support!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. "Michelle Ye Hee Lee". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  3. Trace, Jessica (September 21, 2016). "Run the World: Michelle, the Journalist". Tracing Paper. Archived from the original on November 30, 2020. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  4. "Former VIBE reporter Michelle Lee honored as Beacon of Democracy". Pacific Daily News. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
  5. Lee, Michelle Ye Hee (November 3, 2012). "Enduring friendship - Letters, occasional visits sustain relationship despite distance, years apart". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  6. "Meet the reporter: Michelle Ye Hee Lee". The Arizona Republic. December 23, 2011. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  7. "Finalist: Staff of The Arizona Republic". The Pulitzer Prizes. 2014. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  8. "Meet Your New Officers For 2019-2020". Asian American Journalists Association. 2019. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  9. Kessler, Glenn (January 11, 2011). "Welcome to the new Fact Checker". Fact Checker. The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 30, 2011. Retrieved January 3, 2012.
  10. ^ Funke, Daniel (October 18, 2017). "Michelle Ye Hee Lee is leaving The Washington Post Fact Checker". Poynter Institute. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  11. Lee, Michelle Ye Hee (September 18, 2014). "The perils of being a female, Asian fact-checker in a tense election". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  12. Cannella, Cara (October 9, 2016). "How the Election Started a Fact-Checking Content Boom". Contently. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  13. Lee, Michelle Ye Hee (May 31, 2018). "South Korea may try for a three-way summit in Singapore with U.S. and North Korea". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  14. ^ "AAJA Announces New Executive Director". GlobeNewswire. January 14, 2019. Archived from the original on November 23, 2021. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  15. "Our Year Of Visibility: 2020 Message From National President Michelle Ye Hee Lee". Asian American Journalists Association. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  16. Malasa, Joseph (October 29, 2022). "Bridging History and Self: Filipinx American History Month Defined with Nicole Dungca". Medium (AAJA National). Archived from the original on May 8, 2023. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
  17. Jehl, Douglas; Rodriguez, Eva; Murphy, Brian (December 11, 2020). "The Washington Post names Michelle Ye Hee Lee its Tokyo bureau chief". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 11, 2020.

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