Annie Lab @ HKU School of Future Media

Background | Our work | Staff | Finance | Contact

Background

In recent years, a constant stream of fraudulent news stories has given rise to troubling cultural trends and alarming political movements across the world.

False claims, misleading factoids, unsound exaggerations, propaganda, hoaxes, rumors, questionable advertising, radical extremism coupled with bogus information, and other types of misinformation and disinformation are now being masqueraded and distributed as news.

In October 2019, the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong (which now operates as a division under the School of Future Media) co-established a daily fact-checking project in partnership with ANNIE (Asian Network of News & Information Educators), a not-for-profit organization focusing on news literacy education in Asia.

Annie Lab operates both as a fact-checking online media outlet and a training program for students. We believe this ‘teaching newsroom model’ complements our goal to create a community of factcheckers composed of journalists, students, and the audience, who can learn from each other as they explore evolving fact-checking techniques that can counter changing misinformation strategies.

It is a hybrid of professional training and news literacy education based on the pedagogical models developed by ANNIE and supervised by faculty members of the University of Hong Kong, all of whom are former journalists who have worked in various Asian countries.

Every fact check by students goes through multiple editorial scrutiny by the faculty members.

Our work

As of March 20, 2026, Annie Lab has published more than 510 stories (our archive here) and numerous social media posts since its inception in October 2019.

It follows strict editorial guidelines, labeling systems, and standards.

It became a verified signatory of the Code of Principles by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) on Jan. 20, 2022.

IFCN’s signatory certification is an internationally recognised standard in the field of fact-checking journalism. To be qualified, an organisation must demonstrate its non-partisanship, fairness, transparency, and professional rigor through the quality of its work.

In November 2023, Annie Lab also became a member of the Vaccine Safety Net (VSN) established by the World Health Organization.

The VSN is a global network of websites that provides quality information on vaccine safety. Its diverse member institutions are located in various countries around the world.

Staff

The faculty members at the Journalism & Media Studies Centre scrutinize every fact check by students. We currently have two editors (faculty staff) involved in the newsroom’s daily operation.

Cherry Lai / Supervising Editor (Assistant Lecturer)
Cherry joined the university in June 2020. Before beginning a career in teaching fact-checking, Cherry was a senior radio reporter at Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), covering healthcare policies and medical news. Cherry started her journalism career as a newspaper reporter at Mingpao.

Masato Kajimoto / Editor-in-chief (Professor of Practice)
Masato specializes in misinformation ecosystem research, news literacy education, and fact-checking practice, with a strong regional focus on countries in the Asia-Pacific. Before joining HKU, Masato worked as a reporter for CNN International. He is also the founder of ANNIE.

Student reporters
All stories featured on our website are written by HKU students who work in shifts Monday through Friday under the editorial guidance of the faculty members. About eight to ten students are involved in fact-checking every week.

Each of our stories has a byline showing reporters’ names. Due to security concerns, however, we use the “Annie Lab Team” byline for a sensitive story.

Finance

Annie Lab’s operations are integrated into credit-bearing journalism courses at the University of Hong Kong, a publicly funded tertiary institution.

ANNIE, which has occasionally contributed funds to support newsroom operations, is a not-for-profit educational organization registered in Hong Kong as a public company limited by guarantee. Its annual reports and related documents are publicly available under Business Registration Number 71346556.

The School of Future Media accepts direct donations from external funders, and Annie Lab has received the following financial support in the past.

In 2020

• ANNIE: HK$380,000 (about US$49,000)
• Google News Initiative: HK$120,000 (about US$15,000)

In 2022

• Google News Initiative: HK$700,000 (about US$90,000)

In 2023

• Check Global Independent Media Response Fund by Meedan: US$9,000
• ANNIE: HK$230,000 (about US$29,500)

In 2024 and 2025

• No funding received

Contact

Address: Eliot Hall, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 3917 1155 (The School of Future Media)
Fax: +852 2858 8736
E-mail: contact@annieasia.org or jmsc@hku.hk