For more than a year, we have been fighting three viruses: COVID-19, racism and disinformation. For Asian Americans, concerns about COVID-19 are accompanied by fears of violence, with the number of reported attacks on Asian Americans surging during the pandemic as much as by 145%, according to a recent study by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. One cause of this increase is disinformation campaigns that specifically tie the spread of the pandemic to racist narratives, scapegoating Asian communities and Asian Americans as the agents for COVID-19.
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars invites you to join us for a program that will shed light on this convergence, by examining the impact disinformation has had on Asian American communities, and its impact on our global standing. What has been the impact of disinformation on Asian Americans? How are certain groups targeted in disinformation? What has been the impact of these trends on diplomatic relations with Asian countries as well as US standing in the region?
This event is co-sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholar's Science and Technology Innovation Program, Asia Program, Kissinger Institute, and the Hyundai Motor-Korea Foundation Center for Korean History and Public Policy. It is held in partnership with the Asian American Journalist Association.
Agenda
- Keynote address: Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA 33rd District)
- Panel:
- Michelle Ye Hee Lee, Reporter, the Washington Post; President, Asian American Journalists Association
- Prof. Jonathan Corpus Ong, Associate Professor, Global Digital Media, University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Rui Zhong, Program Associate, Kissinger Institute on China, The Wilson Center
- Moderator: Jean H. Lee, Director, Hyundai Motor-Korea Foundation Center for Korean History and Public Policy, The Wilson Center
SPEAKERS
Jonathan Corpus Ong
Associate Professor of Global Digital Media at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst
Rui Zhong
Michelle Ye Hee Lee
Reporter for The Washington Post; President of the Asian American Journalists Association
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA)
MODERATOR
Jean H. Lee
Director, Hyundai Motor-Korea Foundation Center for Korean History and Public Policy;
Journalist and former Pyongyang Bureau Chief, Associated Press