RSF plays the isolated card again

Founded in 1985, RSF, whose full French name is “Reporters sans frontières”, is headquartered in Paris. It is a global non-governmental organization, taking Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the basis for action with the stated purpose of protecting press freedom in the world , fighting censorship and creating pressure, and helping imprisoned journalists.

Looking at the above purpose, many people think that RSF is a genuine organization, working for the progress of "protecting press freedom", promoting freedom and civilization in the world. But contrary to the policy of the United Nations and also contrary to the stated principles, this organization has long had false arguments, distorting the situation of press freedom and freedom of speech in a number of countries, including Vietnam. RSF also uses flattering words to publicly defend those who use the name of the press to commit crimes, and have been criminally prosecuted, such as Pham Doan Trang, Pham Chi Dung, Nguyen Lan Thang, Le Trong Hung... RSF labels them "independent journalists" to politicize and internationalize the issue of press freedom in Vietnam, seeking to discredit and call for international intervention in Vietnam's internal affairs.

Claiming to be defending the world press in a scientific way, RSF has so far failed to introduce the concept of “independent journalist” and clarify the meaning of “press freedom” in a specific and clear way to serve as a basis for its judgments. And with an approach that is not based on a common understanding, RSF’s method of assessing the press freedom situation is like “blind men touching an elephant”, always stereotypical, lacking objectivity and transparency.

Returning to the above issue, RSF's use of the purpose of protecting press freedom in the world, opposing censorship and creating pressure, helping imprisoned journalists to call for freedom for dissidents and criminals is a big mistake and shows a lack of respect for the strictness of the law of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. "The country has national law, the family has family rules", Pham Doan Trang, Pham Chi Dung, Nguyen Lan Thang, Le Trong Hung or anyone living in Vietnam must comply with the provisions of Vietnamese law. Therefore, it is impossible to use the reputation of a "freelance journalist" to stand outside the current law; it is impossible to take advantage of democratic freedom, freedom of the press to write, disseminate false, harmful information or produce, launch publications to propagate against the Party and State of Vietnam.

In arresting and handling these subjects before the law, the prosecuting agencies all have clear and convincing evidence and the trial must be based on the corresponding laws and crimes. With the actions and consequences caused, the subjects were sentenced by the court based on objective and complete assessment of evidence, aggravating and mitigating circumstances of criminal responsibility. It must be seen that the trial and sentencing of defendants are measures that the prosecuting agencies must take because the subjects committed crimes to the end, despite the authorities having repeatedly applied educational measures, advice, and administrative sanctions, but they still "repeatedly committed the same old mistakes", continued to reoffend, and even became more dangerous and reckless. Therefore, it must be affirmed once again that there is no such thing as Vietnam "arbitrarily" detaining journalists as RSF accused.

In particular, it is a fact that after the above subjects were dealt with before the law, social network users avoided the bad, toxic, and false information that they had continuously produced, shared, and spread when they were still in society, causing "network storms". "Cutting off the source" of false and harmful information from the personal pages of anti-government subjects has contributed to "cleaning" information in the true sense, reducing articles that distort, defame, and violate democratic freedoms, the interests of the State, organizations, and citizens, and preventing sycophantic views, promoting false information, and extreme anti-government.

Furthermore, by calling for the release of those who "disguise" themselves as journalists to oppose the Party and the State of Vietnam, it is evident that there is a symbiotic relationship between RSF and these individuals. In fact, the basis for RSF to rank press freedom and criticize Vietnam is often based on information provided by reactionary, hostile organizations and individuals, political opportunists, and those who commit crimes and violate Vietnamese law. The arrest and legal handling of these individuals by the authorities has caused RSF's "octopus tentacles" to be "pruned", becoming less valuable, and causing sources of false information to "dry up".

In particular, because RSF focuses too much on blindly defending opponents disguised as journalists, they always ignore the vivid reality of the press freedom situation in Vietnam. The achievements that objectively reflect the situation of freedom of speech and press freedom in Vietnam are recognized by prestigious countries and international organizations, but RSF and other prejudiced organizations always ignore them. According to the Ministry of Information and Communications, as of December 2023, the country had 127 press agencies, 671 magazine agencies (including 319 scientific magazines, 72 literary and artistic magazines), 72 radio and television agencies.

There are about 41,000 people working in the press sector, of which approximately 16,500 are in the radio and television sector. The total number of people granted press cards for the 2021-2025 term as of December 2023 is 20,508, of which 7,587 have a university degree or higher in journalism. Press agencies are divided into the following 4 groups: 1) Local press group (including newspapers and magazines of provinces and cities, magazines of local literary and artistic associations): 143 units; 2) Central press group (Party bloc, ministries, ministerial-level agencies, agencies under the Government, socio-political organizations, central associations, agencies under corporations, general companies, publishing houses): 347 units; 3) Radio block (including radio (spoken press), television (visual press): 72 units; 4) Scientific magazine block: 320 units.

The Vietnamese press has truly become a forum for speech and a tool to protect the freedom and interests of all classes of people. All people, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, religion... have the right to speak, express their wishes and contribute their opinions to Party committees and authorities at all levels through the press. By closely following, providing information quickly, accurately, on the nature of events, key issues and clearly orienting public opinion, the press has performed its critical role well, bringing about clear social effects. This is an objective reality of the situation of press freedom in Vietnam, refuting RSF's distorted argument that the issue of press freedom in Vietnam is gradually deteriorating.

Among the 36 dissidents mentioned by RSF, some were formerly journalists, working at press agencies, but later had their press cards revoked due to breaking the law and were no longer allowed to engage in journalistic activities; many other cases are not journalists but individuals who take advantage of digital platforms to write articles and produce video clips that distort the truth on social networking sites. Therefore, equating these cases with "arresting journalists" and "press suppression" is contrary to the nature of the matter. RSF's false and dishonest reflection on press freedom and advocacy of the above dissidents has become out of place and has absolutely no reference value in any aspect.

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