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Censorship in Vietnam

According to the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the law provides for the right to freedom of opinion and speech, and citizens have the right to access information. However, people in Vietnam are not able to have the right to free speech nor the right to access information because of government censorship. Censorship in Vietnam is implemented by the Communist Party of Vietnam, and Vietnamese government censors the most sensitive contents related to economy, politics and government in mass media and the Internet. In addition, the government prohibits artists and singers to publish arts and songs that criticize a government policy.

Reporters Without Borders ranks Vietnam at 175 out of 180 countries in the 2016 World Press Freedom Index, and the country is recognized as “not free” for the press freedom in 2015.

During the First Indochina War, Vietnamese journalists and writers had worked for the Viet Minh to achieve the country's liberation from France. They published underground newspaper, such as "Thang" (Victory). After the Viet Minh achieved independence of North Vietnam in 1954, journalists, artists and intellectuals in the north demanded the right to free speech to the government in the late 1950s during the Nhân Văn–Giai Phẩm affair, a cultural-political movement. However, the government began to control the media since 1956. In 1958, the Communist Party had declared that they would utilize the press as a tool to spread propaganda. Also, after North Vietnam took over South Vietnam in 1975, the communist government began to control all the publishing and entertainment industries in the south, and they had established the policy of Thank Loc (Purification of Culture). Under the new established policy, all media in the south were re-evaluated by the communist government and were banned if the content of a work opposed communism, was against country's moral, and promoted philosophy and religion.

Subject matter and agenda

Media and the press

Vietnamese government owns all official media outlets and news publications in Vietnam and controls them through senior editors, publishers, and reporters who are appointed by the government and censor the content before it is published to public. Most contents related to activities of political dissidents, corruption of government officials, deficiency of the Communist Party, anti-China sentiments, human right issues, and any criticism of government's economic management are considered as forbidden topics in Vietnam. The Ministry of Culture and Information of Vietnam is managing and supervising broadcasting, the press, news agencies, and periodicals, and they have to follow strict rules issued by the government. In 2002, Nhân Dân, the official daily of the Communist Party, said the Party prohibits creating a media company, which is privately owned. Broadcasting media is also controlled by the Party and People's Army of Vietnam, and the government blocks satellite and cable TV as well as radio broadcasts of foreign companies sponsored Radio Free Asia.

In 2012, the government had shut down the non-governmental journalist organizations and sentenced longer than two decades of jail time to those who found the organizations. In 2014, a freelance journalist in Vietnam was ambushed and beaten by the policemen near Ho Chi Minh City, and the government had arrested at least 16 citizen journalists as of December 2014. Foreign media in Vietnam are not free from Vietnamese government censorship as well. The government had passed the law that required all foreign media to be censored by government officials, so the government could prohibit foreign journalists to extend their stay in the territory if they would publish an article that would attack the government. Therefore foreign journalists often conduct self-censorship in order to extend their visas. In addition, foreign press bureaus are required to hire local assistant, who can watch their reporting activities, and foreign television broadcasts based in Vietnam are required to run on a 30-minute delay because the government has to monitor their content before they show to the public.

Internet

Internet censorship in Vietnam is implemented by the government. There are three Internet service providers (ICPs) in Vietnam, and Viet Nam Post and Telecommunications Corporation (VNPT) and Viettel, which are owned by the government and military, are the largest Internet service provides in the country, and the companies have the authority to monitor Websites access by subscribers. In addition, Vietnamese government is able to block Internet users in Vietnam to access to politically sensitive websites as well as prohibit the users to create a new website without government's permission.

Vietnamese government has punished several bloggers. In 2016, the government has detained Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, a blogger who has published the article to the Internet about criticizing the Communist Party. This is not the only case, but Vietnamese government already has utilized vague national security laws to punish several bloggers. They also have shut down the non-governmental journalist organizations in the Internet and sentenced longer than two decades of jail time to those who found the organizations. As of December 2014, the government has arrested at least 14 freelancer journalists for their online e work.

Music and art

Most artists in Vietnam conduct self-censorship under government’s pressure. The Vietnams politician, Truong Tan Sang, said “Vietnam’s artistic community should reflect the nation’s development and progress positively. It should not satirise [satirize] the forces of law and order, nor extol decadent and lascivious behaviour [behavior].” Also, all singers and their song lyrics must be approved by the government before they perform in public. The vietnamese singer-songwriter, Viet Khang, was sentenced to four years of prison due to conduct propaganda against the state under article 88 of the penal code after he was arrested by the police in December 2011 because his song named "Who are you" is about the police's unfair treatment of protestors.

Politics and religion

On 28 April 2011, the police has arrested Nguyen Cong Chinh, a pastor, who has talked about a religious issues to foreign media. He was sentenced to 11 years.