Kent Ninomiya

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Kent Ninomiya was the first Asian American man to be primary news anchor for an American television station. The Asian American Journalist Association or AAJA notes that there are a great number of Asian American women on the air in the United States but very few Asian American men. This is especially true when it comes to anchoring positions. Kent Ninomiya was the first Asian American man to make it to the top job. He is a nationally known television news anchor, reporter and writer.

Ninomiya was named primary news anchor for KSTP in Minneapolis-St Paul in 2003. His co-anchor was Harris Faulkner, an African American female. The all minority main anchor team in a predominently white television market was heralded as a bold step forward by journalist organizations across the country. He also served as managing editor and main anchor for WICD in Champaign in 2005 and 2006.

Kent Ninomiya was born in San Francisco and raised in San Diego. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1988. He earned a bachelor's degree in Social Sciences with an emphasis in History, Political Science and Mass Communications. He was also a fellow of Journalism Ethics at the Poynter Institute.

Ninomiya's career began behind the scenes working and interning for KTVU in Oakland in 1987, KGO in San Francisco in 1988, and the Washington D.C. bureau of CNN in 1988. His first appearance on the air was at WGGB, the ABC television station in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1989. Ninomiya worked there as an assignment editor/reporter. He then moved on to anchor the morning news and report for KIEM, the NBC television station in Eureka, California in 1989 and 1990. Kent Ninomiya worked as a news reporter and fill-in anchor for KJEO the CBS television station in Fresno in 1990, KFSN the ABC owned and operated television station in Fresno in 1990, and KGTV the ABC television station in San Diego from 1991 to 1993. At the age of 26, Kent Ninomiya was hired by WLS the ABC owned and operated television station in Chicago. He was one of the youngest reporter/fill in anchors ever hired in that news market. He reported there for five years from 1993 to 1998.

Kent Ninomiya was then promoted to full time anchoring assignments. He was the weekday 5am - 7am morning news anchor for KGO, the ABC owned and operated television station in San Francisco in 1999 and 2000. While there he worked with several prominent co-anchors including Beth Spicuza, Carolyn Johnson and Elizabeth Bermudez. Ninomiya also anchored weekend evenings for KCOP in Los Angeles from 2001 to 2003. His co-anchors in LA included Gina Silva, Jennifer Gould, Maria Quiban and Lauren Sanchez. While working at KCOP the station became part of a duopoly with LA's FOX station KTTV. He filed live news reports for both stations.

Kent Ninomiya is a prolific writer who pens articles on a wide range of subjects for print, broadcast and the internet. He is the managing editor of EmergingDragon.com, a web site for Americans looking to benefit from an emerging Asia and Pacific Rim. He is also the Senior Southwest U.S. Correspondent for China Daily, the national English language newspaper of China. It is circulated in 120 countries around the world and its web site gets 9 million hits per day.

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