The issue of press freedom and the "internal attack, external attack" tactic

Recently, Reporters Without Borders (French: Reporters sans frontières, abbreviated as RSF) - one of the non-governmental organizations that always has a prejudiced view of Vietnam - released the report " World Press Freedom Index".

As usual, RSF continues to make false and unfounded comments about the press situation in Vietnam, claiming that there is no freedom of the press in Vietnam and that people cannot exercise their right to freedom of speech...

plot to sabotage

When discussing ideological struggle, former US President Richard Nixon declared: "The ideological front is the most decisive front", "all of America's weapons, trade activities, aid, and economic relations will go nowhere if we fail on the ideological front".

Some Western thinkers also commented: “A radio station can pacify a country”, “a dollar spent on propaganda is as effective as five dollars spent on national defense”… That is why hostile forces have sought to exploit the cover of “democracy” and “ human rights ” to create an excuse to attack and sabotage our ideological front. Currently, in addition to the newspapers and radio stations that are still operating, hostile organizations and individuals have also created thousands of websites to spread false and harmful information.

Under the guise of freedom of speech and freedom of the press, bad forces are thoroughly using the trick of “internal attack and external attack”. On the one hand, they select, train, and support domestic “democracy merchants” to carry out activities attacking the Party, the State, and government agencies under the guise of “freelance journalists” and “freelance reporters”.

On the other hand, external forces often trumpet the absoluteness of freedom of speech and freedom of the press, inciting excessive democratic values of “human rights above sovereignty” and at the same time exerting pressure, issuing reports, reports, and rankings with false content about the situation of press freedom in Vietnam; slandering the Vietnamese Party and State for “suppressing” the press, claiming that Vietnam has no freedom of the press, no freedom of speech!

The distortion of the situation of democracy and human rights in Vietnam in general and the implementation of freedom of the press and freedom of speech in particular is not new. This is an old scenario that is often carried out by individuals and opposing organizations. By accusing Vietnam of not having freedom of speech and freedom of the press, hostile forces have sought to interfere in Vietnam's internal affairs. In fact, this is a trick in the ideological war that hostile forces thoroughly exploit, especially in the context of the current information explosion.

Lively practice refutes wrong and hostile views

In Vietnam, the press is an essential means of information for social life; it is the mouthpiece of Party agencies, state agencies, socio-political organizations, socio-political-professional organizations, social organizations, socio-professional organizations; it is a forum for the people. Our Party and State always create favorable conditions for freedom of the press to be exercised in accordance with the provisions of the law. However, bad elements always take advantage of it to sabotage, provide false information, and slander that Vietnam does not have freedom of the press and freedom of speech.

Domestic and international press working at the US-North Korea Summit held in Hanoi. (Illustration photo)

The consistent viewpoint of the Party and State of Vietnam is to respect and ensure citizens' freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Article 25 of the 2013 Constitution clearly states: "Citizens have the right to freedom of speech, freedom of the press, access to information, assembly, association, and demonstration. The exercise of these rights is prescribed by law."

To promote the development of the press and ensure the freedom of speech of the people, the 13th National Party Congress proposed the policy of "building a professional, humane and modern press and media". Currently, the authorities are actively implementing the Prime Minister's Decision on the National Press Development and Management Plan until 2025 and the Press Digital Transformation Strategy until 2025, with a vision to 2030. Attention is paid to investment in training and fostering human resources for the press sector.

At the same time, the State has a policy of ordering press to serve political, security, national defense, foreign information tasks, serving teenagers, children, the deaf, the blind, ethnic minorities, areas with especially difficult socio-economic conditions, remote, mountainous, border, island areas and other important tasks.

Statistics by the end of 2022 show that our country has 127 press agencies, 670 magazine agencies (including 327 political theory and science magazines and 72 literary and artistic magazines); 72 radio and television agencies. The number of people working in the press sector is 41,000, with 19,356 officials having been granted press cards.

Along with domestic press agencies, many international media and news agencies have been present in Vietnam such as CNN, Reuters, AP, AFP, Kyodo, Asia News Agency (Korea), Aju Economic Daily (Korea) and Rossiya Segodnya (Russia)... With such a strong press force, the press life in Vietnam has been very bustling, reflecting all aspects of social life. This is an important foundation to ensure freedom of speech and freedom of the press for every citizen.

According to the provisions of our country's law, citizens have the right to create journalistic works; provide information to the press; respond to information in the press; access journalistic information; cooperate with press agencies to produce journalistic products; express opinions on the situation of the country and the world; participate in giving opinions on the formulation and implementation of the Party's guidelines, policies and guidelines and the State's laws; contribute opinions, criticisms, recommendations, complaints and denunciations in the press against Party organizations, state agencies, socio-political organizations, socio-political-professional organizations, social organizations, socio-professional organizations and other organizations and individuals...

With these regulations, everyone can easily participate in press activities, become a freelance journalist, search for, discover topics and produce press products, ensuring the right to freedom of operation according to the provisions of the Press Law and related laws. In recent times, the press has made extremely important contributions to building and protecting the Fatherland, especially in the fight against corruption. Many negative cases and violations have been reported and brought to light by the press, contributing to cleaning up the apparatus.

True freedom of speech and freedom of the press can only exist in a sovereign nation that is not dependent on any power. Therefore, along with exercising the rights to freedom of speech and freedom of the press, each citizen must also strictly comply with the regulations on the obligations of citizens to ensure the interests of the nation and people.

Any act of abusing or taking advantage of freedom of the press and freedom of speech to infringe upon the interests of the State, the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and citizens is strictly prohibited and subject to strict sanctions. Not only in Vietnam, but also in all other countries in the world, there are similar regulations.

For example, the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in 1789 stated: “Every citizen may speak, write and publish freely; however, he shall be held responsible for any abuse of this freedom according to the provisions of law”. Or the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) also stipulates that everyone has the right to freedom of speech, but the exercise of this right must be accompanied by special obligations and responsibilities to respect the rights or reputations of others; protect national security or public order, health or morals of society.

Freedom of speech and freedom of the press in Vietnam are always respected and guaranteed in accordance with the law. Making a ranking based on false numbers and data and then claiming that Vietnam does not have freedom of speech and freedom of the press are distorted arguments that go against the interests of Vietnam and such wrongdoings distort and deform the picture of press freedom in the world in general.

Anh Tu (People's Police Newspaper)

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