In its annual report on global press freedom, the CPJ says some Vietnamese bloggers and cyber-citizens are in prison for posting their opinions on the internet. The report says that on January 9, 2013, 14 young people were sentenced to a total of 100 years of imprisonment for exercising their right to freedom of speech. With such information, the CPJ erroneously concluded that journalists in Vietnam are imprisoned mainly for opposing the State. 

The report entitled “Bloggers and cyber-citizens behind bars” deceives the public by equating professional journalists and bloggers, who take advantage of the internet to violate article 88 of Vietnam’s Criminal Code. Vietnamese Law defines journalists as individuals granted a license by the Ministry of Information and Communication to work in press agencies, and have articles posted on licensed mass media. They are members of the Vietnam Journalists Association and have their rights protected by the Association. Professional journalists are trained and are proud of working for the development of Vietnam’s press and national prosperity.  Bloggers write cyber diaries. Their works are introduced on e-portals. They don’t have any social or civil responsibility. The CPJ has intentionally obscured the differences to distort the real situation in Vietnam.

In Vietnam, there is no journalist being detained for opposing the State, only bloggers sentenced for violating the law.  The jailed bloggers, which the CPJ says are imprisoned for exercising freedom of speech, are actually law violators. They were publicly judged by the Courts according to the Constitution and Law. In courts, they confessed their guilt in the face of clear evidence and accepted their sentences. The lawyers defending these people acknowledged that the verdicts were correct and in line with the law. Vietnam has its Constitution and Law and has never ever arrested or detained an innocent person lawfully expressing their ideas. It seems that the CPJ has once again used misinformation to distort freedom of the press in Vietnam.

The Vietnam Journalists Association has more than 19,000 members including 17,000 licensed to work at hundreds of press agencies. The Association always supports its members to work independently and creatively within the law. A journalist is a citizen and has to take responsibility for the information in their articles. Journalists who violate the law, including the Press Law, must stand trial. Those who are not journalists but freelancers who take advantage of the freedoms of press and speech to publish materials infringing national security, the interests of the State, organizations, or individuals will be judged by law. It’s the law’s equal, strict, and clear discipline to protect rights of press and speech in Vietnam.

The Committee to Protect Journalists knows this well. But they slander Vietnam’s press freedom, ignoring the fact that Vietnamese agencies uphold a legal system built on Vietnam’s political, economic, cultural, and social foundation and international norms. With such subjectivity, the CPJ shows that they don’t really advocate for professional journalists as their name suggests.