Press Freedom Index 2013, released on January 30th, 2013, by Reporters Without Border (RWB) says press freedom in Vietnam shows no sign of improvement, the people lack free access to information, and the country is the world’s second biggest imprisoner of bloggers and cyber-citizens. RWB interviewed several communication agencies to elaborate the report. Benjamin Ismail, RWB Director for the Asia – Pacific region, told VOA Vietnamese on January 30 that press freedom in Vietnam is seriously declining. He gave as evidence the trials last year of 12 bloggers and 14 dissidents who called themselves Catholic activists, spreading the slander that the Vietnamese state stifles freedom of press and speech. Ismail fabricated the idea that in Vietnam there is no place for criticism of the administration, government policy, the political system, or government officials.
RWB and Benjamin Ismail have intentionally ignored the indictments against the people they mentioned, which consisted of detailed evidence they had violated Vietnamese law. They have exhibited an ambiguous attitude and called the bloggers, who used the internet to violate article 88 of Vietnam’s Criminal Code, professional reporters. This shows RWB’s subjective attitude and ignorance of the truth. Reporters Without Borders has never surveyed the real situation in Vietnam except to issue a questionnaire of 80 questions to collect one-sided and vague information, pick distorted information from certain websites and blogs of reactionary and hostile forces, and interview some people with preconceived ideas and unfriendly views about Vietnam. With such a unscientific and unilateral research, it’s doubtful that RWB’s Press Freedom Index 2013 in particular and other reports in general are as objective and reliable as they claim to be.
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Reporters Without Borders distorts Vietnam’s press freedom
(Photo: danluan.org) |
Established in 1985 in France, RWB gives itself the right to advocate freedom of press and speech western style. This is not the first time RWB has distorted and slandered press freedom in Vietnam. In fact, RWB does not work only for the interests of reporters. It was accused of being paid hundreds of thousands of USD from reactionary Cubans living in exile such as the Center for Cuba’s Freedom, the Cuba Unity organization, and opposition organizations in Venezuela to launch communications campaigns against Cuba and Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez during the political crisis of April, 2002. RWB took money from organizations and individuals to get involved in toppling Haitian President J.B Aristide in 2004. The open Wiki encyclopedia mentions allegations by two reporters of German broadcaster WDR that Reporters Without Borders has received a lot of money from American billionaire George Soros, who donated millions of USD to the Solidarmosc trade union and the National Endowment for Democracy, an organization which received funding from the US Department of State. Maybe RWB’s report on the so-called repression of truth is deliberately untruthful.
Vietnam affirms that the State respects and guarantees its citizens’ rights to freedom of press and speech. Like other countries, in order to maintain discipline and stability for development, the Vietnamese State does not allow anyone to take advantage of these rights to incite subversion and destroy the national great unity. The “Vietnamese reporters” that RWB defends actually are bloggers violating Vietnamese law. The Vietnamese Party and State always listens to and respects the opinions of the public on policy making through social criticism and the mass media. The Vietnamese media is a public, democratic, prompt, and effective channel for social criticism.
Lam Son