---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: AD Marshall <admarsh
...@gmail.com>
Date: Dec 26, 2007 5:28 PM
Subject: [SighGone, Hø!] Vietnam Media's State Monopoly to End
To: admarsh
...@gmail.com
Your SGGP English-Language Editor simply can't resist spreading this news a
bit farther and faster. Soon to appear on the site of the SGGP English
edition is the following report.
Merry Christmas and Happy Solar and Lunar New Years, y'all!
*Vietnam's Media to Be Freed From State Monopoly Control*
Words: 370 (including headline)
In remarkable news likely to benefit the nation at large, Prime Minister
Nguyen Tan Dung yesterday reportedly agreed to a proposal to end the state
monopoly on all Viet Nam media, said an unidentified government official.
After receiving suggestions on a draft government decree on state-controlled
monopolies by the ministries of Justice and Information and
Telecommunications, the Government Office held a conference with the
ministries on the draft. At the conference the prime minister agreed to
remove the national media from the list of exclusively state-controlled
monopolies.
As a result, private, independent publishers and media organizations will be
allowed to coexist alongside state-run media.
Related to a conference reviewing the new Press Law yesterday, sensitive
issues of journalism, such as foreign sponsorship of media, the web-log
("blog") boom, taxation of journalism, and advertising, were discussed.
Most chief editors at the conference said the current law failed to provide
clear financial incentive for the national media and requested Government
adjust the law's sections on advertising.
Under the law, advertisements in printed newspapers are limited to 10
percent of editorial pages, a situation infeasible to publishers' current
economic circumstances.
The chief editors suggested the law permit the media to decide publications'
shares of advertising content and not limit advertisements in the media
because such limits would affect the media's abilities to finance their
products and meet businesses' demands.
One of the issues attracting journalists and journalism managers is that of
blogging. They debated whether or not blogs should be considered a form of
journalism and thus require government regulation.
Vice Minister of Information and Telecommunications Do Quy Doan said blogs
differ significantly from journalism in that their contents are personnel
opinions bloggers wish to share with the online community. Doan suggested
managing blogs in particular, and information on the Internet in general,
did not require outright bans be imposed, that, instead, legal guidelines
should be drafted for those using the Internet and posting to blogs.
Under Vietnamese Law, a person can and should be charged if he slanders
others and bloggers are not excepted from laws prohibiting publications from
distributing information promoting violence, wars, sexual abuse or
information opposing Vietnamese morals and customs.
Reported by Phuong Anh, Translated by Hai Dang, Edited by AD Marshall
--
Posted By Mặc AD Marshall to SighGone,
Hø!<http://sighgone-ho.blogspot.com/2007/12/vietnam-medias-state-monopoly...>at
12/26/2007 05:28:00 PM
--
AD (Andi) Marshall
Mobile: +84 (0) 903871313
eMail: admarsh...@gmail.com
Zone: ICT (IndoChina Time, GMT/UTC+7)
Web: http://admarshall.googlepages.com/
Post: HoChiMinh City (ex/or SaiGon), VietNam
Quote: "Love all, trust a few. Do wrong to none..."
Source: Shakespeare, 1623, "All's Well That Ends Well"
Get it at Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2246
GPG/PGP Public Keys online: http://cryptonomicon.mit.edu/
