[Vacets-local-dc] [VN: Press freedom ... as the Party allows it!]

[Hai Tran]

Despite embracing tabloid reportage, Vietnam government retains tight grip on media Sunday, 30 May 2004 
HANOI, May 30 (AFP) - Despite a gradual embrace of tabloid-style sex and crime reportage, the domestic media in Vietnam remains under the vice-like grip of the ruling Communist Party. 

The government regularly asserts that the media's role is to "maintain national unity" and help the country's economic development, a stance reflected by the propagandist style of news that appears in the press. 

But over the past few years, state-controlled newspapers have also carried an increasing number of sensationalist stories in a bid to appear more relevant to their readers in one of the last bastions of communism. 

The most striking example of this came last year when they devoted extensive coverage to the trial of Ho Chi Minh City mafia boss Nam Cam and his murky dealings with three top Party officials, who were subsequently jailed. 

The press, however, was subsequently ordered to cut back on its reporting of the explosive scandal to prevent sensitive information about the alleged criminal activities of other high-ranking officials from being exposed, according to Vietnamese journalist sources. 

"There is a trend towards relaxing the day-to-day control unless people get out of line. They don't watch every word as they used to," said a Western diplomat. 

The government has seized on the media's reporting of corruption scandals within the state apparatus as proof that freedom of the press, which is guaranteed in the constitution, is respected. 

It also regularly points out that there are nearly 600 newspapers, magazines and periodicals in circulation in the country. 

In practice, however, press freedom remains significantly restricted. 

Pervasive Party guidance and "national security legislation sufficiently broad to ensure effective self-censorship" ensures it toes the line, the US State Department said in its annual human rights report published in February. 

This, together with anti-defamation provisions in the constitution and the criminal code enables the government to "restrict severely" freedom of speech and freedom of the press, it added. 

Private media outlets are also banned, and over the past two years a number of journalists and intellectuals who have used the Internet to voice dissenting opinions have been arrested and jailed. 

Earlier this month the government ordered a crackdown on "bad and poisonous information" being circulated online, just months after tough new rules regulating the use of the web came into force. 

"In Vietnam, pushing the 'send' button can result in dire consequences including years in prison and family and friends put under 24-hour surveillance," rights watchdog Amnesty International said last November. 

Despite international criticism about the regime's restrictions on freedom of expression, most analysts believe the Communist Party will never give up its control over the domestic media while it is in power. 

"They will never allow the media to subvert the system. Any signs of people taking an editorial line that is contrary to government policy and they will stamp down on it," the Hanoi-based diplomat said. 

Government restrictions are not limited to the local media. 

According to the official regulations, the Southeast Asian nation's small foreign press corps must be based in Hanoi and must receive permission -- which is sometimes denied -- to travel elsewhere in the country for reporting activities. 

Other more arcane restrictions have gradually been relaxed but most Western journalists operate on the assumption that all telephone calls and emails are monitored and their movements are watched. 

And although foreign language magazines and newspapers are available in major cities, occasionally, articles perceived as being defamatory about Vietnam are censored, or circulation of the publication is delayed.




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You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.
		
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