An exibition hall of the Vietnam Press Museum in Hanoi (Photo: VNA) The RSF assessments are farfrom new but repeat the old mindset from the previous years and show that thisorganisation has turned a deaf ear to the reality of the protected freedom ofspeech and the press in Vietnam.
It is a fact that the Stateof Vietnam has always worked to protect and promote fundamental human rights,including the right to freedom of speech, the press freedom, and the right ofaccess to information, which were regulated in the Constitution and relatedlegal documents and have been practiced in the political, economic, and socialaspects in the country.
Ensuring all citizens canpractice the right to freedom of speech and of the press under legalregulations is a consistent policy of the Vietnamese Party and State.
Over the past years, theState has made unceasing efforts to complete the legal system so as tofacilitate and protect citizens’ fundamental rights relevant to the freedom ofspeech.
The rules set in the revisedPress Law and the Law on Access to Information, both adopted in 2016,completely match international documents on human rights and the right tofreedom of speech and of the press.
It is regrettable that theRSF has intentionally ignored the legal documents enforced in Vietnam for manyyears.
The freedom of speech,freedom of the press, and freedom of information in Vietnam are also clearlyreflected in the development of diverse types and content of the press.
In Vietnam, there are nowabout 41,000 personnel working in the media sector, 779 press agencies, and 72others licensed to operate in radio - television broadcasting with 87 radio and193 TV channels.
Visitors look at exhibits about the Vietnam News Agency at the Vietnam Press Museum in Hanoi (Photo: VNA) In recent years, activitiesof press outlets in Vietnam have demonstrated the right to freedom of speechand become an important bridge linking the country with international friends.
Even international mediapointed out the “information transparency” factor for many times when reportingon the measures helping Vietnam to contain the COVID-19 outbreaks in 2020. Manyforeign newspapers also highly valued the Vietnamese Government’s effective useof social media and information technology for the pandemic fight.
David Hutt, a Britishjournalist covering Southeast Asian politics, also held that when the pandemicbroke out, the Party and State of Vietnam were highly transparent and open insharing and updating data about COVID-19, which is one of the reasons whyVietnamese people put their trust in the anti-pandemic measures taken by theGovernment.
Besides, the RSF hasintentionally turned a blind eye to the fact that Vietnam was recognised as oneof the countries with the fastest growth in internet usage, with more than 68million internet users, or 70 percent of its population.
The internet freedom and thefreedom of expression on social networks have always been practiced within thelegal framework in order to guarantee cybersecurity and prevent the abuse ofsocial networks to violate Vietnamese law or create a pretext for externalforces to intervene in the country.
In Vietnam, no one is broughtto trial or arrested just for expressing their opinions or protecting humanrights. Only the ones who take advantage of the freedom of speech or of thepress to infringe the State’s interests, the rights and legitimate interests ofcollectives or individuals, and break the law are handled as in line with legalregulations. That matches international law as well as law in many countries.
It is obvious that theguaranteed freedom of speech and of the press in Vietnam is an undeniablereality. The RSF has intentionally negated the Vietnamese Party and State’s effortsin this regard to make wrong and groundless assessments.
Its arguments show that thisorganisation, with bad intentions, is distorting and twisting the truth aboutthe freedom of the press in Vietnam. The RSF itself is running counter to thejournalism principle of respecting and not distorting the truth./.
VNA
