Prime Minister Decree 77 restricts communication with journalists?
Stephen Denney <sdenney@ocf.berkeley.edu>
date Jun 6, 2007 9:09 AM
subject [Vsg] PM Decree restricts communication with journalists
Associated Press today reports a decree issued by the Prime Minister on
May 28 which it says bans "everyone within government ministries from
speaking to the media, except ministers, provincial governors or
officially appointed spokespeople... The decree states that government
spokespeople will have a monthly media briefing, and each ministry will
hold a briefing at least once every six months. It also instructs the
ministries to publish monthly or quarterly information for the media on
their Web sites."
see:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/06/asia/AS-GEN-Vietnam-Media-Restrictions.php
I am not sure how this will affect academic research in Vietnam, but since
a number of VSG subscribers are journalists based in Vietnam, this will
certainly affect the work of at least a few VSG members.
- Steve Denney
Skyler Wiet <skyler.wiet@gmail.com>
date Jun 6, 2007 10:53 AM
subject Re: [Vsg] PM Decree restricts communication with journalists
Dear list,
I hope that the journalists and those currently undertaking research that depends on interaction with government officials (esp. mid- and low- level officials) can keep us updated on the developments and problems they have. It is certainly the type of issue that we on the list need to be aware of and involved with to prevent unfortunate obstacles from arising in the future.
Best,
Skyler M Wiet
Vern Weitzel <vern.weitzel@gmail.com>
date Jun 6, 2007 5:41 PM
subject Re: [Vsg] PM Decree restricts communication with journalists
Hi Steve, I don't see mention of this in the English language press from
Viet Nam though the decree appears to be dated 28 May.
Does anyone see it in the Vietnamese language press? More important, do
we know the number and text of the Decree in Vietnamese?
Vern
Stephen Denney <sdenney@ocf.berkeley.edu>
date Jun 6, 2007 5:47 PM
subject Re: [Vsg] PM Decree restricts communication with journalists
Vern,
I think I may have seen one other western journalist report on this
decree, but nothing else so far. As you may have noticed I haven't posted
much news to my list in recent days, so there may be something I can dig
up.
best
Steve
Dinh Lu Giang <lugiangdinh@gmail.com>
date Jun 6, 2007 6:29 PM
subject Re: [Vsg] PM Decree restricts communication with journalists
tried to look around in Vietnamese online press but I didn't find neither in vnexpress.net nor www.tuoitre.com.vn.
Regards
Giang
Matt Steinglass <mattsteinglass@gmail.com>
date Jun 6, 2007 6:56 PM
subject RE: [Vsg] PM Decree restricts communication with journalists
Several times in the past few days, while I and my assistant have been making calls to government officials (in the Department of Animal Health and so on), the officials have declined to speak with us, referring to the new Prime Minister’s order (I believe it is Decree 77), and have told us to call the ministerial spokesperson or the minister himself. I may be forgetting something, but I believe we have never, in these cases, been able to reach either a spokesperson or a minister (unsurprisingly). In one case, the ministerial spokesperson’s phone went unanswered throughout the afternoon.
The new order will primarily affect our ability to get officials to speak with us on the phone. Most government officials already demanded that any requests for in-person interviews be sent through the Press + Information Dept of the Foreign Ministry, in accordance with the press law.
Since the press law vaguely instructs foreign news organization that all “activities” must be carried out through the Press and Info Dept of the FM, it was in principle always within the government’s discretion to claim that we needed to go through them in anything we did. The new order seems to be more in the nature of a further guideline which will discourage some officials, but not all, from speaking to the press. It remains to be seen how closely officials will adhere to the rule. In the case of certain types of high-priority news, for example on avian flu, I very much hope that health and animal health administrators and doctors will be granted some discretion to speak directly with foreign press.
It is worth noting, however, that this type of strict information control is not much different from what one would encounter when dealing with the leadership levels of Western governments, or with large corporations. The proliferation of the phrase “a senior White House official said”, in news reports over the past 7 years, reflects similar information control policies, though not enshrined in law. The difference is that in the West, spokespeople for every government agency are readily available and are prepared to give the press what it needs to report rapidly on the day’s developments.
Matt Steinglass
Boston Globe and VOA stringer, Hanoi
Vern Weitzel <vern.weitzel@gmail.com>
date Jun 6, 2007 7:12 PM
subject Re: [Vsg] PM Decree restricts communication with journalists
I think that I've located the law - which more literate people
than me can interpret.
The link is:
http://www.vietlaw.gov.vn/LAWNET/docView.do?docid=21152&type=html&searchType
=fulltextsearch&searchText=
The text is in the attached Word document.
Thanks Steve, Giang,
Raymond Mallon <raymallon@gmail.com>
date Jun 6, 2007 7:39 PM
subject Re: [Vsg] PM Decree restricts communication with journalists
Hi,
The instruction was a Decision by the Prime Minister (a Decree is a
higher order legal instrument issued by the Government (Prime Minister
and Ministers).
A write-up in the (official/semi-official) Viet Nam Investment Review is
attached.
Ray Mallon
Economist, Hanoi
VIR-news
New move to deal with the media relations
The government has ordered state administrative agencies to identify a
spokesperson and give their name and title to the media, a move that
could help improve the media’s access to official information.
The local media often find themselves in a dearth of official information
Decision 77/2007/QD-TTg, which was signed by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan
Dung last week, makes the head of an agency or a person nominated by
them to be the body’s spokesperson. Their role will be making
announcements and providing information to the media.
Observers say the media, to a certain extent, would enjoy better access
to official information, as the decision also requires ministries,
ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, and people’s committees
of cities and provinces to update information on their websites for the
media once every month or at least every three months. They must also
hold a press meeting at least once every six months.
The decision states that a spokesperson must provide accurate and timely
information to the media if there is an event or problem that requires
the state agency to make an announcement, or when media organisations or
press management agencies ask them to provide information.
“The regulations will make it easier for me to find a contact and get
the agency’s view,” said Bach Ba, a journalist in Hanoi. She said having
a spokesperson in place was a common practice in many foreign countries.
However, there are concerns that the decision may also restrict
journalists. As Article 2.4 states, those who are not assigned to be a
spokesperson or who are not authorised to supply information to the
media will not be allowed to do so on behalf of their agencies. They are
not allowed to reveal secrets or secret information about
investigations. It is also forbidden to provide wrong or dishonest
information to the media.
Observers say this article is controversial and could cause confusion.
Some local reporters claimed it could make other officials within state
administrative agencies become reluctant to deal with them. Moreover,
the spokesperson, possibly the only one officially authorised to speak
to the media, may be overloaded and unable to answer every journalist’s
in-depth questions about a specific subject at once. As a result, it
could take long time for journalists and readers to get answers they need.
A spokesman for a ministry, who declined to be named, said that whenever
he had to deal with specific and in-depth questions, he must ask his
colleagues for help. Therefore, he said, it might be better to allocate
the rights to answer journalists’ questions to a group of individuals.
Spokespeople should take responsibility for clarifying the point of view
of the agency about complex issues and introduce the right person for
the press to interview or ask for in-depth information.
Some government officials, however, argued that Article 2.4 would help
government bodies as it prevented them from disclosing secret, unsafe or
inaccurate information.
Le Dung, the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who is often
chased by both domestic and international journalists, told Vietnam
Investment Review that he supported this view. Dung said the regulation
was not only helpful for government officials but also for reporters
because it guaranteed them access to official and accurate information
from government agencies.
Le Quoc Trung, the deputy chairman of the Vietnam Journalists
Association, told VIR that it was still too early to make any complaints
about the decision as it was only signed a few days ago. “The provisions
in the decision need to be implemented for some time. During the
implementation process, if it deters reporters from getting timely
information, the association will collect reporters’ ideas to submit to
the prime minister and responsible agencies,” Trung said.
By Binh Chau
Du <tonthat@homemail.com.au>
date Jun 7, 2007 3:08 AM
subject Re: [Vsg] PM Decree restricts communication with journalists
Dear list,
Here is the link to a BBC piece on the subject, in Vietnamese, with
comments from listeners.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/vietnamese/vietnam/story/2007/06/070606_media_restriction.shtml
Cheers
Dinh Lu Giang <lugiangdinh@gmail.com>
date Jun 7, 2007 4:51 AM
subject Re: [Vsg] PM Decree restricts communication with journalists
Dear Vern,
Thank you very much for your link and document.
I don't know how good or bad the PM Decree may be as I am not a researcher of political science. But when I read carefully the first part of the Decree, it seems to me that the Decree is a result of something that may happen recently. Is it the reaction from the PM towards something?
Vern Weitzel <vern.weitzel@gmail.com>
date Jun 7, 2007 6:09 AM
subject Re: [Vsg] PM Decree restricts communication with journalists
Hi Giang,
It appears that the decree is directed only at journalists and is
limited to Ministry officials per se.
As Matt Steinglass has said, this is not uncommon in many other
organisations. In my experience, some UN agencies have expressed
caution about staff meeting with journalists, however, overall
there has been a move for office and project staff to be more
articulate in describing their work to media and professional
audiences. Such articulation does not come without a risk of being
misunderstood.
I do not see evidence that it extends to professional exchanges,
such as meetings and workshops or information sharing where the
development process depends on discussing views or approaches.
It would be harmful any of us felt that we could not freely
discuss issues with our development partners at these events.
Vern
Dinh Lu Giang <lugiangdinh@gmail.com>
date Jun 7, 2007 6:47 AM
subject Re: [Vsg] PM Decree restricts communication with journalists
Dear Vern,
I read the Decree carefully and I think that at the first reading, many people will think that it's a kind of communication restriction. But I found that important line:
"cung cấp thông tin cho báo chí NHÂN DANH CƠ QUAN HÀNH CHÍNH"
(... provide information to media ON BEHALF OF STATE ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES"). It does not mean that nobody other than spokespeople can provide information .... They can still speak on behalf of themselves.
Thanks for your previous messages.
Quynh Le <lequynh78@gmail.com>
date Jun 7, 2007 8:56 AM
subject Re: [Vsg] PM Decree restricts communication with journalists
Interested readers may look at our interview today with Mr. Nguyen Tri Dung, Deputy Director General, Press Department (Cuc bao chi), Ministry of Cultural and Information. He insisted that the new initiative is meant to make the state agencies more responsive to the media.
Mr. Dung also said: "Apart from looking for info from the head of a state agency, in my opinion, the media have the right to look for info from other people and sources. That is the responsibility and the right of the media."
Link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/vietnamese/vietnam/story/
2007/06/070607_media_info_interview.shtml
My hunch is that from now on, many officials will use the decree as an excuse not to talk. But for those who were pleasant in the past, the rules can be enforced loosely. And with or without this latest decision, some topics have always been out of bounds.
Regards
Vern Weitzel <vern.weitzel@gmail.com>
date Jun 7, 2007 3:33 PM
subject Re: [Vsg] PM Decree restricts communication with journalists
Thanks Giang,
In many meetings, I have seen a quite useful exchange of
ideas in which people are careful to say that they are speaking
for themselves. Such exchanges advance collaborative discussion.
[This is obviously my personal focus, of course.]
Steve, I don't mean to minimise difficulties journalists may
have talking with civil servants. Only that there are legitimate
reasons to make sure that the official position is communicated
to the press. Several discussants on the vnbiz eList are making
similar points about this issue.
Having said that, my experience has been that individuals are
generally better able to articulate the issues relating to their
work than a media spokesperson or senior official. Giang suggests
that this is possible, according one reading of the decree.
Ray posted the VIR article in which it some observers suggest that
"article [2.4] is controversial and could cause confusion.
Coming back to Giang's latest point, have there been cases recently in
which civil servants mis-stated the position of a Ministry?
The sections requiring that ministries regularly update websites and
hold press briefings. However, am I correct in understanding that
these requirements are not very detailed? I do think that it would
be extremely useful if ministries (and their subordinate agencies)
were required to keep the information on websites up-to-date.
[Not an easy task either.] It would also support the Government's
intention to encourage eGovernment on websites.
Thanks,
Vern