Media Freedom in Asia
The inaugural event of the Georgetown Media Fellows Program:
With the rapid deterioration of press freedom in Asia, many seasoned and experienced journalists who have accumulated decades of knowledge of sensitive areas of Asia have lost their jobs after the closing of independent media outlets. In Fall 2022, the Asian Studies Program at Georgetown University is hosting two seasoned Hong Kong journalists, who are conducting research and engaging with policymakers, NGOs, and think tanks.
Asian Studies Director Dr. Yuhki Tajima will open the event with an introduction to the Media Fellows Program. Dr. Evan Medeiros, Penner Family Chair and Cling Family Distinguished Fellow in U.S.-China Studies, will then engage Shirley Ka Lai Leung and Tinshui Yeung in a conversation on democracy, independent press , and the future of Hong Kong’s media landscape.
Please note that we are prohibiting recordings of this event. This event will follow Chatham House Rules. We request that any articles mentioning the content of this discussion be published after December 2022.
Co-sponsored by the US-China Dialogue
SPEAKERS
Shirley Ka Lai Leung is currently an independent journalist from Hong Kong. She has been working in several magazines and newspapers for 16 years, writing social and cultural features. During the 2019 social movement in Hong Kong, she worked as a senior reporter in Apple Daily and witnessed the closure of the company after the enactment of the National Security Law.
Since then Shirley has been working as an independent journalist, and began the project of documenting the post-movement era of Hong Kong, covering features and profile stories of the people involved in the movement. These are the people either under on-going trials or have already finished their sentences.
She received her M.A. in Literary and Cultural Studies from the University of Hong Kong, with her research focusing on Hong Kong literature. Her publications include 因自由之名 (In the Name of Freedom), co-authored with other journalists about the 2019 social movement and 榮光歲月 (Glory of Our Times) published by Apple Daily.
Tinshui Yeung is the Asia Media Fellow of the Asian Studies Program, Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. He is an independent editor and journalist from Hong Kong, currently living and working in the UK. He was the UK Bureau Chief of Standnews Hong Kong. Throughout his career, he has closely recorded the political turmoil in Hong Kong from the Umbrella Revolution in 2014 to the enactment of the National Security Law in 2020. He is also a scholar whose research focuses on the relationship between the arts and society. He received his Ph.D. in Global Arts from the Tokyo University of the Arts in 2021. His publications include the book titled Farmer’s Horizon, which tells the stories of agriculture and urbanization in Hong Kong and Japan, and the Chinese translation of the book For a Left Populism by the political theorist Chantal Mouffe. Tinshui is the recipients of various awards, including the Japanese Government MEXT Scholarship, the ICFJ (International Center For Journalists) Innovation Fellowship and the Medienbotschafter China-Deutschland Fellowship by the Robert Bosch Stiftung.
Yuhki Tajima is Director of the Asian Studies Program and Associate Professor of Asian Studies and Political Economy in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. His research examines insurgencies, communal violence, ethnic politics, the political economy of development, criminal gangs, and smuggling with a particular focus on Southeast Asia. Dr. Tajima is the author of The Institutional Origins of Communal Violence: Indonesia’s Transition from Authoritarian Rule (Cambridge University Press 2014). He holds a PhD in Public Policy and an MPA in International Development from Harvard University and a BA in Physics from Swarthmore College.
MODERATOR
Evan Medeiros is the Penner Family Chair in Asia Studies in the School of Foreign Service and the Cling Family Distinguished Fellow in U.S.-China Studies. His research and teaching focuses on the international politics of East Asia, U.S.-China relations and China’s foreign and national security policies. He has published several books and articles and regularly provides advice to global corporations and commentary to the international media. His expertise is a unique blend of research expertise and practical experience. He previously served for six years on the staff of the National Security Council as Director for China, Taiwan and Mongolia – and then as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Asia. Dr. Medeiros holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the London School of Economics.