TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Taiwan Foreign Correspondents Club (TFCC) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) held an event Saturday to mark World Press Freedom Day, with the theme of “Fighting for the facts in an age of authoritarianism.”
The event took place at Daybreak, a cafe operated by the Taipei-based publication New Bloom. The discussion panel featured veteran reporters and press freedom advocates, several of whom report on their home countries while living in exile in Taiwan. Brian Hioe, founding editor of New Bloom and TFCC board director, moderated the discussion.
Aleksandra Bielakowska, advocacy manager and chairperson of RSF’s Taiwan Chapter, described Taiwan as “our safe haven base where we can continue working,” a sentiment echoed by multiple panelists. She noted that China has nearly eliminated all independent media.
Photon Media Editor-in-Chief Shirley Leung Ka Lai (梁嘉麗), who has been unable to return to her native Hong Kong for two years, described the deteriorating conditions in the territory under the consolidated rule of the Chinese Communist Party. She said that for the first time this year, RSF’s press freedom index placed Hong Kong in its most severe category, citing harassment of reporters and their families.
“Our mission is to fill in the gaps local media is afraid to cover because of the pressure from the authorities,” Leung said. “The difficulty is always safety as an exile media. Everybody is so afraid to talk with us and work with us. I’m the only one we have full-time and who speaks publicly. All our other reporters work anonymously.”
Leung said working anonymously creates added obstacles when reaching out to sources. “Others want to work with you because they trust you to get the facts right,” she said. When someone calls a source from an unknown foreign number with an unverifiable online presence, the conversation may hit a roadblock.
Long Huu Trinh, editor-in-chief of Luật Khoa Magazine and interim executive director of Legal Initiatives for Vietnam, explained that Vietnamese journalists face many of the same challenges as those in China. He noted that although Vietnam’s internet remains more open than China’s, with access to Facebook, Google, and Wikipedia, independent journalism has no strong presence there.
Most journalists are forced to work underground or from overseas, making it difficult to earn a living, he said. Trinh acknowledged that cuts to US funding for dissident media under the Trump administration have worsened the situation. Despite this, he expressed gratitude for past support and said he is exploring sustainable business models. “I keep our subscriptions at just two dollars a month,” he said.
While RSF now ranks the Asia-Pacific as the second-most dangerous region in the world for journalists, Bielakowska said most of the media organizations she works with identify financial sustainability as their top concern. “Specifically for authoritarian regimes, where it’s impossible for [reporters] to operate anymore…they rely on financing from democracies and support from the public of other countries,” she said.
She added that of the 33 countries and territories evaluated by RSF in the region, 20 face severe economic situations with regard to journalism. The problem even extends to democracies such as the Philippines and Malaysia as traditional business models in media experience increasing strain and governments attempt to reign in unfavorable coverage.
Near the end of the event, an audience member asked panelists their plans for the unthinkable: a Chinese attack on Taiwan. All agreed, in various forms, that the work would somehow have to go on. Will Yang, a freelance journalist from Taiwan who has reported extensively from Myanmar over the last two years, answered bluntly. “I will probably have to go to the reserve Army.”
