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I am a freelance reporter based in the San Francisco Bay Area and former longtime health editor at New America Media. Before joining NAM, I worked variously at India-West, a national weekly newspaper for the South Asian community in the U.S., the Cape Cod Times, the Providence Journal and the New Bedford Standard Times, covering topics ranging from health to immigration to crime to social issues, especially those relating to women. For a couple of years, I also free-lanced for the North American edition of India Today and Business Today, both leading magazines in India. In the last decade, I have won eight journalism awards, my most notable being for my national expose on McDonald’s use of beef in its so-called vegetarian french fries. That story won me two first prize awards for investigative reporting, one from the South Asian Journalists Association and the other from New America Media. My series of stories on Women and AIDS in India won me a New America Media award in 2006. Passionate about women’s issues, I am a co-founder of Narika, a Berkeley-based help line for South Asian women. I am also an animal rights activist. My professional affiliations include the Association of Health Care Journalists, the Society for Professional Journalists and the South Asian Journalists Association.
Articles
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Explore the systemic failures in California's family courts that perpetuate injustice for domestic violence survivors, including dismissive judges and a lack of transparency.
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A severe shortage of court reporters in California and the rest of the nation is denying thousands of poor litigants access to justice.
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A new law meant to curb domestic abuse runs up against judges who know little about it.
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Topics
California’s coercive control law was enacted too late to help Blanca in her divorce from a husband she describes as manipulative and emotionally abusive.
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A judge in Southern California embraced a new state law allowing victims to claim coercive control, that was designed to tip the balance in favor of women seeking child custody and restraining orders.
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One immigrant endured more than two decades of psychological and financial abuse by her husband yet didn’t think she was a victim. Legal safeguards are limited and came too late to help her.
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A California law broadening domestic violence protections could help restrain abusers who manipulate their partners financially and psychologically. Two women who sought remedies through the courts share stories of a justice system stacked against them.
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A new law that broadens the definition of domestic abuse could substantially change the way it's handled by the courts and police.
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Discomfort with end-of-life care discussions is not uncommon among many older immigrants in the United States.
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Before joining NAM, Viji Sundaram worked variously at India-West, a national weekly newspaper for the South Asian community in the U.S., the Cape Cod Times, the Providence Journal and the New Bedford Standard Times, covering topics ranging from health to immigration to crime to social issues.