• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Saturday, February 27, 2021
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Democracy at Risk Media Freedom

Vietnam, Where Independent Media Is Outlawed, Opens Press Museum

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
07/17/20
in Media Freedom, World
A replica of a loudspeaker which transmitted propaganda messages during the Vietnam War

A replica of a loudspeaker which transmitted propaganda messages during the Vietnam War. Photo: Nhac Nguyen/AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Undeterred by its dismal ranking in media freedom and grim reputation for jailing reporters who stray from the government line, Vietnam has launched a museum dedicated to the open press.

From Pulitzer Prize-winning photos from the Vietnam War to the story of the struggle over press freedom during the French colonial era, the carefully curated exhibits offer a highly selective history of journalism in the communist nation.

It’s opening last month in Hanoi came shortly after the arrests of two journalists critical of the government, both on anti-state charges which carry heavy jail terms.

All newspapers and television are state-controlled in Vietnam.

Reporters Without Borders — which ranks Vietnam 175th out of 180 countries for press freedom — said the reporters’ arrests sent a “chilling message” ahead of the Communist Party’s five-yearly congress in January.

However, for museum director Tran Thi Kim Hoa, the exhibition is a proud example of the apparent liberties enjoyed by the country’s press corps.

“With the press freedom law that the French brought to Vietnam, we have always been highly aware of what freedom of the press was,” she told AFP Thursday, referencing an 1881 law that applied to France and its colonial territory but was patchily used in Vietnam.

“The fact we were able to build this museum shows that we have press freedom.”

This is me protesting the Vietnam war – I saw first hand why it’s so important to defend media freedom: https://t.co/0QTAYDp1vh pic.twitter.com/STqIL6Z3Rn

— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) July 18, 2019

Nowhere in the museum, which got official approval from the government, does it mention that Vietnam’s secretive regime bans all home-grown independent media outlets.

Daily news coverage, especially on social issues, is diverse — ranging from the minute-to-minute tracking of mercury leaks from factories to contamination in Hanoi’s tap water system.

But criticism of Vietnam’s top echelons of power is not tolerated.

The museum, which cost about $1 million to build, eschews exploring the careful dance reporters engage in when tackling the country’s issues.

Instead, it focuses on their tools and some select work — displaying old cameras, typewriters, reporters’ teapots, and mugs and old articles.

A replica of a loudspeaker used for transmitting propaganda messages during the Vietnam War is also on display.

One visitor, Nguyen Thu Hang, a local radio and TV reporter, said she felt “very moved” by the exhibition, which captured “the spirit of journalists” in Vietnam.

ShareTweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

AFP with The Globe Post

Related Posts

Anxiety Rises Over Attacks on Media Covering US Protests
National

Anxiety Rises Over Attacks on Media Covering US Protests

by Staff Writer
June 3, 2020
Julian Assange
Featured

Trump’s ‘War on Journalists’ Behind Assange Extradition Bid: Lawyer

by Staff Writer
February 24, 2020
Rights Groups Denounce Charges Against Brazil-Based Journalist Glenn Greenwald
Featured

Rights Groups Denounce Charges Against Brazil-Based Journalist Glenn Greenwald

by Staff Writer
January 21, 2020
Cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan, chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), speaks to members of media after casting his vote at a polling station during the general election in Islamabad, Pakistan, July 25, 2018.
Featured

Rights Groups Slam Pakistan After Media Watchdog Member Denied Entry

by Staff Writer
October 18, 2019
Cameras and photos of journalists killed across Mexico are placed on the ground during a protest on May 15, 2017, in Mexico City
Opinion

Mexico Must Protect its Journalists if it Wants to Defend its Freedom

by Ana Cristina Ruelas Serna
September 5, 2019
The Westminster district of the United Kingdom's capital, London.
Featured

UK Regulator Fines Russia’s RT over ‘Failures’ in Press Coverage

by Staff Writer
July 26, 2019
Next Post
US President Donald Trump speaks during the daily briefing on the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House on April 23, 2020, in Washington, DC

The Weak Shall Inherit the Worst

EU leaders are battling to save a massive aid package to help offset the vast economic damage caused by the coronavirus FRANCOIS LENOIR POOL/AFP

Deadlocked EU Leaders Try to Save Marathon Virus Rescue Summit

Please login to join discussion

Recommended

What President Biden Should Do About the Uyghur Genocide

What President Biden Should Do About the Uyghur Genocide

February 26, 2021
Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) meets with Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in Khartoum, last August

Sudan’s Normalization With Israel Is a Win for Everyone

February 26, 2021
Ethiopian refugees who fled the conflict in Tigray gather to receive aid at the Tenedba camp.

Eritrean Troops Killed ‘Hundreds’ in Ethiopia Massacre: Amnesty

February 26, 2021
COVID-19 vaccine

Syria Health Workers to Receive Covid Vaccine From Next Week

February 25, 2021
Moria migrant camp which was destroyed in a fire in 2020 on the Greek Aegean island of Lesbos.

Pregnant Migrant Sets Herself on Fire in Greek Camp

February 24, 2021
HRW released a statement on China's increasing prosecution of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.

China Targets Uighurs With More Prosecutions, Longer Prison Terms: HRW

February 24, 2021

Opinion

What President Biden Should Do About the Uyghur Genocide

What President Biden Should Do About the Uyghur Genocide

February 26, 2021
Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) meets with Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in Khartoum, last August

Sudan’s Normalization With Israel Is a Win for Everyone

February 26, 2021
Stolpersteine in Greifswald, Germany.

I Can’t Mark Where My Grandfather Is Buried, but I Want to Mark Where He Lived

February 26, 2021
Republican Senator from Missouri Josh Hawley

Trump’s Acquittal and Republican Senators: Not Setting the Bar Low Enough

February 22, 2021
Why Not Equality for America’s Puerto Rican Men and Women?

Why Not Equality for America’s Puerto Rican Men and Women?

February 19, 2021
Refugee child holding up a sign reading 'we are human like you'

US Asylum Laws Must Catch up With the Reality of Today’s Refugees

February 18, 2021
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post