In the wake of the shootings in Atlanta, greater scrutiny has been placed on the news coverage of acts of violence against Asians. And quite frankly, the coverage doesn’t measure up. During a segment on CNN’s “Reliable Sources” Sunday program, legendary journalist Connie Chung was blunt about her thoughts.

“We have been miserably late. We are insignificant, and it’s so apparent to all of us who are Asian.”

Last week’s deadly shootings in Atlanta where six of the eight victims were Asian has turned a spotlight on the violence Asian-Americans are facing. Many in the community say the media has ignored what has been going on for a long time. According to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, hate crimes against Asian-Americans rose an alarming 149% from 2019 to 2020, even though hate crimes overall decreased.

In the same CNN interview, Chung noted that crimes against Asians in the U.S. started increasing shortly after former president Trump started referring to COVID-19 as the China Flu.

President Biden and Vice-President Harris met with leaders in Atlanta’s Asian-American community last week, and the president also issued strong words of support.

But how these stories are covered remains a problem. For example, take a look at the panelists on Sunday’s Meet The Press to talk about violence targeting Asians.

Anyone who is on Twitter knows Sundays on social media means its time to dunk on Chuck Todd. This weekend, he and his production team really caught heat for their tone-deaf decision to book a panel discussion on hate crimes against Asians…without a single Asian-American panelist!

While there are challenges to booking guests for live television, we’re talking about Meet The Press! It’s the gold standard for Sunday morning news shows. We should also point out that ABC’s “This Week” and CBS’ “Face The Nation” had Asian-Americans on to discuss the issue, so booking isn’t really an excuse.

The news media must do a better job of covering this crisis in the Asian-American community. The Asian American Journalists Association has established as one of its goals to improve diversity in newsrooms and the coverage in communities of color. More news organizations should visit the group’s website and take advantage of its resources.