Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is set to launch a Taiwan chapter with the aim of deepening collaboration with public and private sector institutions and strengthening local advisory and research work, according to the global press freedom watchdog Feb. 25.
 
The move was announced by RSF’s Taipei City-based East Asia Bureau. Launched in April 2017 as the nongovernmental organization’s first headquarters on the continent, the office serves as a strategic platform for exercising influence and raising awareness of media rights in countries and territories across the region, including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, North Korea, Mongolia, South Korea and China.
 
According to the bureau, the Taiwan chapter will significantly bolster its domestic efforts in monitoring and reinforcing the nation’s free and vibrant media environment. An advisory board comprising academics and industry professionals overseen by Wu’er Kaixi—a noted human rights activist and member of RSF’s Emeritus Board—will also be formed to guide the branch, it added.
 
Cedric Alviani, director of the East Asia Bureau, praised the enthusiastic welcome and strong support RSF has received from the government, public and local NGOs since opening its Taipei office. “Freedom of the press is the key to Taiwan’s democracy,” he said, adding that the new chapter underscores the bureau’s commitment to helping foster and protect this fundamental principle in the country.
 
Further evidence of the group’s work in this regard is demonstrated by two new cooperation agreements inked the same day with the Association of Taiwan Journalists and Taiwan Media Watch.
 
According to ATJ Secretary-General Ian Chen, the accord will institutionalize existing collaboration between the two sides on programs like the Journalism Trust Initiative—an international project launched by RSF in 2018 to combat online disinformation. Participation in such measures is offering Taiwan reporters fresh insights on tackling fake news, he added.
 
Founded in 1985, RSF has 14 regional bureaus around the world and a network of correspondents in 130 countries and territories. Since 2002, it has compiled the Press Freedom Index annually through conducting assessments across such categories as environment and self-censorship, infrastructure, legislative framework, media independence, pluralism and transparency.
 
Taiwan has been the top Asian nation in the index for six consecutive years, ranking 42nd out of 180 countries and territories in 2018. (CPY-E)