Taiwan's Information Resilience: How Journalists can Counter Disinformation

Event Description:

The Global Taiwan Institute (GTI) is pleased to invite you to a panel discussion titled “Enhancing Taiwan's Information Resilience: How Journalists Can Counter Disinformation.”

Advancements in AI technology and the rise of social media have resulted in escalating global challenges when it comes to countering disinformation. In particular, disinformation targeting the Taiwanese public often aims to reinforce Chinese Communist Party narratives, fuel political polarization, and amplify US skepticism (yimeilun). Moreover, although Taiwan ranked 24th on Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index, a 2024 Reuters survey found that Taiwan has one of the lowest levels of trust in media among democracies. In response, Taiwanese civil society organizations—such as Doublethink Lab, IORG, Taiwan FactCheck Center, and Cofacts—have drawn on open source intelligence (OSINT) and civic tech to document disinformation and reinforce the importance of media literacy.

Building upon these efforts, this panel aims to approach the problem from a different angle by highlighting the role that journalists can play in strengthening Taiwan’s information resilience. Summer Chen (FactLink) and Mary Ma (Factlink) will discuss their work at FactLink, a Taiwan-based initiative dedicated to digital investigation, media literacy, and AI literacy. Turning the focus to global media competition, Shanthi Kalathil (MDO Advisors) will outline some of the challenges that Taiwan faces when it comes to countering the PRC’s influence in global media. The panel will be moderated by GTI Program Manager Adrienne Wu.

The event will be held at GTI’s office located at 1836 Jefferson Place NW in Washington DC (approximately one block from the Dupont Circle Metro). Doors will open at 11:30 AM, and the event will begin at 12:00 PM. If you plan on attending in-person, please RSVP by June 22, as seating is limited. Light refreshments will be provided. Please direct questions or concerns to Program Manager Adrienne Wu at YXd1IHwgZ2xvYmFsdGFpd2FuICEgb3Jn.

**Media: Please contact Yuchen Lee at eWNsZWUgfCBnbG9iYWx0YWl3YW4gISBvcmc= if you would like to bring additional crew members or equipment, so that we can be sure to accommodate you.

FactLink is a Taiwan-based initiative dedicated to digital investigation, media literacy, and AI literacy. Launched at the end of 2024, it is founded by a team of award-winning journalists and fact-checkers with over five years of frontline experience in debunking misinformation and disinformation in the Chinese-speaking world. The team also has extensive experience in cross-border collaboration and international fact-checking networks.

The Panelists:

Summer Chen is the founder of FactLink. She is an experienced journalist and fact-checker specializing in OSINT, fact-checking, and media literacy training. She served as the chief editor of the Taiwan FactCheck Center from 2019 to 2024, where she led the team in debunking mis- and disinformation related to regional conflicts, cross-Strait military drills, the COVID-19 pandemic, and Taiwan’s elections. She and her team stepped in at key moments to stop mis/disinformation, and to reveal how it threatened Taiwan’s democracy. She has also provided fact-checking and media literacy training to journalists, teachers, and communities to help build Taiwan’s information resilience.

Mary Ma (Li-Hsin Ma) is the head of investigation and research at FactLink. She is a fact-checking specialist with five years of experience in digital investigations and OSINT. Her work focuses on election-related disinformation in Taiwan (2020, 2024), real-time fact-checking during debates, international collaboration fact-checking projects on the Russia–Ukraine war, Chinese military propaganda, and debunking AI-driven information manipulation. She is also an experienced media literacy trainer, dedicated to advancing OSINT skills among journalists and the public in Taiwan.

Shanthi Kalathil is founder and principal at MDO Advisors, a visiting senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and a senior fellow with USC’s Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy. Kalathil previously served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Coordinator for Democracy and Human Rights at the National Security Council; and prior to that, as the senior director of the National Endowment for Democracy’s International Forum for Democratic Studies. A former Hong Kong-based reporter for the Asian Wall Street Journal, she has focused throughout her career on the intersection of technology, information and international affairs at organizations including the US Agency for International Development, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the World Bank. She sits on the boards of Radio Free Asia and the National Democratic Institute, and holds degrees from the University of California at Berkeley and the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Min Mitchell is an accomplished media executive and veteran journalist with a distinguished career in global news, digital innovation, and multilingual content production. From 2022 to 2024, she served as the Executive Editor at Radio Free Asia (RFA), where she led editorial operations for the organization's nine language services and its online affiliate, BenarNews. Under her leadership, RFA expanded its digital footprint, successfully reaching a broader, younger audience. Her tenure was marked by numerous accolades, including three prestigious National Murrow Awards, and the launch of 歪腦 | WhyNot, a cutting-edge digital news magazine designed to engage Mandarin-speaking youth worldwide. From April, 2024 till last week, Min served as the acting President of Frontline Media Fund and launched the first news service focused on China and China's global influence in Mandarin and English.Prior to this, Mitchell was RFA’s Managing Director for East Asia from 2017 to 2021, overseeing the Mandarin, Cantonese, Tibetan, Uyghur, and North Korean services. During this time, she played a key role in expanding RFA’s East Asia programming, ensuring its relevance in a rapidly evolving regional landscape. Notably, under her direction, RFA’s Uyghur Service was the first to expose the mass detention of Uyghur Muslims by Chinese authorities in 2017. Mitchell also led RFA’s extensive live coverage of the 2019-2020 Hong Kong protests, one of the largest and most significant pro-democracy demonstrations in its history.A native of Taiwan, Mitchell’s career in journalism spans decades, with experience in both television and print media. She has covered major global events, including U.S.-China relations and the White House, for several Chinese-language news outlets. Mitchell was also the Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief and a leading news anchor at Taiwan Television.Mitchell holds a BA in Russian Language and Literature from National ChengChi University in Taiwan, as well as an MA in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin.

The Moderator:

Adrienne Chih-fang Wu is the program manager at the Global Taiwan Institute, and the host and producer of Taiwan Salon, GTI’s cultural policy and soft power podcast. She is a member of the UC Berkeley US-Taiwan Next Generation Working Group and a member of the Foreign Policy for America’s Next Gen Initiative. Additionally, she was a 2024 Taiwan-US Policy Program Delegate and a Taiwan Delegate for Strait Talk 2023 at George Washington University. Before joining GTI, she graduated from Ritsumeikan University and Kyunghee University with a Dual Master’s Degree in International Relations. She spent seven years living in Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan—including three years of teaching English in Japan and Taiwan, and a year of study at Waseda University while pursuing her BA in Honors East Asian Studies from McGill University.

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