(RSF/IFEX) – RSF protested the Communist Party’s directive forbidding Vietnamese citizens from having access to foreign television programmes via satellite and called on the government to drop the measure. “Last week, the regime stressed it would keep the local media under tight control and now it forbids the Vietnamese people from hearing any criticism from […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF protested the Communist Party’s directive forbidding Vietnamese citizens from having access to foreign television programmes via satellite and called on the government to drop the measure. “Last week, the regime stressed it would keep the local media under tight control and now it forbids the Vietnamese people from hearing any criticism from abroad,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard in a letter to Prime Minister Phan Van Khai.
Under the ban, issued the week of 17-21 June 2002, only members of the government and the party, provincial governors and mayors, can view foreign TV programmes. According to the Associated Press, foreign media and news agencies operating in Vietnam, as well as international hotels, are also allowed to have satellite receivers. Anyone wanting to import such equipment must first get permission from the Ministry of Trade. The ban came soon after articles appeared in the government-controlled press denouncing the “harmful” nature of some foreign TV programmes.
Last week, the head of the Communist Party’s Culture and Ideological Commission, Nguyen Khoa Diem, said the media must obey the party’s leadership.
