Nghe An Newspaper is not obligated to provide information to Nghe An Market Management Department.
The content of the dispatch is as follows: “In issues 9246 dated December 10, 2012; 9247 dated December 11, 2012 and 9248 dated December 12, 2012, Nghe An Newspaper published an article: Corruption of ethics in a group of market management officers, which stated: Part 1: Stopping vehicles to “make rules” on the road, Part 2: “Eating” money at the station…
Receiving the content of the Newspaper on December 10, 2012, Nghe An Market Management Department established an inspection team to check the content of the newspaper at Market Management Teams No. 5 and No. 6. On December 12, 2012, the Head of the Market Management Department issued a Decision to suspend the working group of the above two teams to continue verifying and clarifying the violations.
To have a basis for reviewing and clearly determining the roles and responsibilities of each organization and individual that violated the "Procedures for inspection, control and handling of administrative violations of the Market Management force" in Circular No. 26/2009/TT-BCT dated August 26, 2009 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, as well as violations of ethical qualities while performing official duties of civil servants.
Nghe An Market Management Department respectfully requests the Editor-in-Chief of Nghe An Newspaper to facilitate and provide evidence that the newspaper's reporters have recorded, such as: images of car chases, taking money from customers, the process of checking goods invoices, gestures and words of some market controllers during inspection and control of goods transport vehicles as mentioned in the newspaper.
On December 18, 2012, Nghe An Newspaper issued Official Dispatch No. 602 CV/BNA in response to Nghe An Market Management Department, the content of the dispatch clearly stated: "Nghe An Newspaper thanks Nghe An Market Management Department for receiving, processing and responding to the information the newspaper has published.
…Nghe An Newspaper affirms that the information published by the newspaper is true and Nghe An Newspaper is responsible before the law for the information it has published. Article 7 of the Press Law stipulates that “…The press has the right to provide information based on its own sources and is responsible before the law for the content of the information. The press has the right and obligation not to disclose the name of the person providing information if it is harmful to that person, except in cases where there is a request from the Chief Prosecutor of the People's Procuracy or the Chief Justice of the People's Court at the provincial level or equivalent or higher, necessary for the investigation and trial of serious crimes (3 years in prison or more)”. According to the regulations on journalistic ethics (issued by the Vietnam Journalists Association) and the world's Code of Professional Conduct for Journalists, protecting sources of information is one of the most basic ethical standards of journalists.
Therefore, in this case, Nghe An Newspaper is not obliged to provide information it collects about violations in Market Management Teams to Nghe An Market Management Department.
Regarding professional activities, the press has the right to investigate, collect its own sources of information according to the law and must be responsible for the sources of information. To achieve authenticity, the press must investigate independently. The results of the investigation are intended to provide information and guide public opinion by publishing them in the press. The press does not investigate to provide information to the investigative agencies, because the investigative agencies have full expertise, modern means, and sufficient conditions and qualifications to conduct investigations. The investigation purposes of the two sides are also different. The authorities investigate to find violations and clarify crimes. As for the press, investigating an event or matter is to publicize it in the press, to promptly warn, correct, and guide public opinion - that is the function of the press.
Nghe An Newspaper Editorial Board
