The Institute for Journalism and Society (IJS) of the School of Communication at the Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) held the seminar entitled “What Could We Do to Combat Misinformation?” on 26 October 2022. International and local representatives from the legal, media and academic sectors discussed how to combat misinformation with a focus on the impact of legislation against misinformation. In addition, Professor Chan King Cheung, BBS, Director of the IJS and Raymond R. Wong Endowed Professor in Media Ethics at HKBU, released the results of a survey of local journalists’ views on anti-misinformation laws. The results showed that Hong Kong journalists are generally not in favour of the introduction of an anti-misinformation law.

In his opening speech, Professor Raymond R. Wong, SBS, Adjunct Professor of the School of Communication at HKBU, shared his views on misinformation and ethical standard of the news media.

The Hon. Ronny Tong Ka Wah, GBS, SC, JP, Member of the Executive Council and Convenor of the Path of Democracy; Mr. Chan Chak Ming, Head of the Centre for the Rule of Law, Hong Kong Policy Research Institute; Mr. Eric Wishart, Standards and Ethics Editor at Agence France-Presse; Mr. Yeung Kam Kuen, Executive Committee Member of the Hong Kong Press Council; Ms. Lee Huay Leng, Editor in Chief of the Chinese Media Group of SPH Media Limited; Ms. Bonnie Chiu, Associate Professor of Practice of the Department of Journalism at HKBU and Dr. Stephanie Tsang, Director of the HKBU Fact Check and Assistant Professor of the Department of Communication Studies at HKBU, were invited to share their insights on how to combat misinformation at the seminar as guest speakers.

IJS conducted a questionnaire survey to collect local journalists’ views on anti-misinformation laws between September and October 2022. A total of 162 responses were collected. Professor Chan King Cheung said that according to the survey, it is obvious that the majority of Hong Kong journalists oppose the introduction of laws against misinformation and over 90% of the respondents agreed that it is very important to counter misinformation through promoting media literacy.