EPICANTHUS

A Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper reporter made the leap from print to online journalism, UsWeekly’s gossip queen called it quits and the Asian American Journalists Association soft-played a staff shake-up this week. [Read More]

• Huffington Post Nabs WaPo Rising Star, Mediabistro
• A Lot of “The’s”: Jose Antonio Vargas Leaves The Washington Post for The Huffington Post, The New York Times
• Arianna Huffington Seduces Young Journalist Over Internet, Valleywag
• Filipino Reporter Wins Pulitzer, New America Media
• Janice Min Helped Us Weekly Feed a Hunger for Celebrity, L.A. Times
• Janice Min’s Mysterious Future, Gawker
• Janice Min’s Farewell to Us Weekly Staff, AllieIsWired.Com
• AAJA Names New Interim Executive Director, AAJA
• “Officially it was a mutual decision” that she leave, Maynard Institute
• AAJA National President Sharon Chan, blog

One of the Washington Posts‘ rising stars Jose Antonio Vargas, who last year shared a Pulitzer Prize with a team of other WaPo writers, is a graduate of San Francisco State University. The son of a Spanish father and Japanese-Filipino mother, Vargas, 28, specialized in the “marriage of the Internet and politics” during his four years ago the Post.

At HuffPo, Vargas will launch the mass-readership Web site’s technology section due to debut this fall.

Commented Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington: “I love (Jose’s) passion for communicating how technology impacts our lives, and exploring the many ways the Internet can be harnessed to reach new readers and engage existing ones more deeply — something we’ve been working on at HuffPost since the beginning,”

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Meanwhile, Janice Min, the woman who transformed Jan Wenner’s Us Weekly from a newsstand rag into a celebrity news phenomenon, is leaving her reported $2 million-per-year editor’s post for a possible TV deal. Other speculation has it that Min, 39, is “tired of the daily grind” and was facing a pay cut in the face of falling magazine ad sales.

Nonetheless, during her tenure Min more than doubled Us Weekly’s circulation from 800,000 to two million and the gossip rag’s Web site hits totals have grown 325%, according Web traffic stat keeper comScore.

Min’s departure after six years was termed “amicable” by all quarters. Her last day is Friday.

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Elsewhere, Asian American Journalists Association board July 17 announced the departure of AAJA executive director Ellen Endo. A veteran journalist and entertainment industry executive, Endo joined the group last November.

In a terse statement July 17, AAJA’s board stated: “Philosophical differences over AAJA’s vision and direction have led to this mutual decision. Ms. Endo worked diligently on behalf of AAJA and demonstrated a strong dedication and commitment to its mission.”

AAJA’s action to remove Endo comes less than a month before the organization’s annual convention in Boston and just six months after she was hired. Maya Blackmun, a former Portland Oregonian staffer, was named interim executive director.

On the heels of the executive director’s exit, AAJA announced that it’s deputy executive director Janice Lee would also be leaving her post next month, triggering speculation among members about the internal bickering.

Endo said the “philosophical differences” that resulted in her departure actually came to a head back in mid-May over whether to forge closer ties with other groups in the Asian American community.

“I had hoped to align AAJA with the Asian American community in general,” Endo told the Maynard Institute’s Richard Prince. “That was facing some resistance. I have been a proponent of Asian issues and community needs most of my life.” But “it wasn’t a priority I sensed” from the AAJA leadership.

AAJA National President Sharon Pian Chan, a Seattle Times reporter and graduate of Pomona College, declined to elaborate on the departure of Endo and Lee.

—Rachel Roh