Embedded Files
Stephen Denney sdenney at OCF.Berkeley.EDU
Fri Mar 9 09:06:57 PST 2007
Reporters Without Borders says Vietnam has refused to renew the visa of
Bill Hayton, a BBC reporter in Vietnam who has also participated here in
the VSG forum. It says he will have to leave by March 15. According to
RWB:
"Hayton seems to have irritated the authorities by his coverage of the
repression of dissidents. Like many of his colleagues, he refused to
comply with the Vietnamese rules requiring foreign journalists to request
permission to interview a Vietnamese five days in advance."
see: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=21248
If Bill is still here on the VSG forum maybe he might like to comment. RWB
says this is the first time foreign correspondents have had to leave
Vietnam since 2000, "when French journalists Sylvaine Pasquier of
L'Express and Arnaud Dubus of Liberation were expelled."
- Steve Denney
Bill Hayton bill.hayton at bbc.co.uk
Sat Mar 10 09:26:36 PST 2007
Hi,
Yes it's correct - I have to leave by Thursday. It's a convoluted tale
but the essence is that the Foreign Ministry Press Dept says it can't
consider my visa application until it considers a separate application
from the BBC to re-open its Hanoi office. I believe that this is simply
a ruse to get me out. For example, I was told that my family could apply
for tourist visas until things were sorted, but that I had to leave the
country. If it's simply a question of waiting for the procedures then
surely I would be allowed to stay too.
I have upset the Foreign Ministry Press Dept on several occasions.
During APEC, shortly after I reported on Human Rights' Watch's
allegations that street children had been taken off the streets of Hanoi
for the summit, I approached the government spokesman Le Dung for a
comment on the barricading of a number of dissidents in their houses. He
shouted at me in the summit venue corridor that my visa would be in
danger if I pursued such stories. There have been other occasions too. I
once set up a meeting with dissident Pham Hong Son by phone only to be
called for a meeting at MOFA one hour before the allotted time to be
reminded of the need to clear all interview requests through the Press
Dept. When I got to PHS's house there was a guard of around six people
to meet me and a helpful student with excellent English to translate the
police's objections to my presence. There are many other examples.
Vietnam's press regulations make journalism almost impossible for
foreign correspondents. According to MoFA Circular 84/TTLB, issued 31
December 1996, Article 13, "In order to carry out journalistic
activities mentioned in the Regulations, the resident journalists must
send their requests on a case-by-case basis to the MoFA AT LEAST FIVE
DAYS IN ADVANCE and are not allowed to carry out those activities before
the issuance of the 'Press Permit' by the MoFA."
Suffice to say that almost every foreign correspondent breaks that
regulation almost every working day. However, the regulation is only
enforced when the authorities choose to do so. You can probably guess
the kinds of subjects in which the regulation is more strictly enforced.
According to friends of friends, the pressure not to renew my visa came
from outside MOFA but MoFA didn't object since I've annoyed them too
much. You can either break the regulations or report on controversial
subjects - but if you do both then you get two lots of enemies.
I only came to Vietnam for a year. As a result I felt less pressure to
abide by the regulations since I believed the worst that could happen
was an early departure from Vietnam - which was unlikely to affect my
livelihood. Ironically I was due to leave at the end of this month
anyway but the authorities seem to want to make a point by getting me
out two weeks early.
I think that we should think about the position of foreign
correspondents in Vietnam in a similar way to the debate about
'embedded' reporters with the military. There's a fine line to be walked
here between self-censorship in order to remain here and truth-telling
which could result in a loss of access. Other journalists seem to manage
it better than me!
Bill Hayton
(Soon to be ex) BBC reporter, Hanoi
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