There are things that must be written, even if it hurts…

Chau Binh "incident"

Early October 2020 was the time when Nghe An Newspaper received the first information from the poor commune of Chau Binh (Quy Chau), aboutSome people claiming to be reporters and journalists harassed local people.

According to a report from Chau Binh commune, "at about 4:30 p.m. on September 23, 2020, 3 people (1 male, 2 females), about 30-35 years old, came around the offices at the headquarters of Chau Binh Commune People's Committee, they used their personal phones to take photos and videos; asked for the phone numbers of commune leaders... Then, they sent the photos and videos they took to a few officials, and at the same time, sent messages with threatening implications".

Article in Nghe An Newspaper related to the incident. Screenshot

Along with the above "strange" behaviors, the letter of introduction used by one of these three people is not in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Information and Communications. It contains general, unclear information such as "Sent to agencies and businesses", "Contact regarding information exploitation for press work"; especially, the letter of introduction is valid for up to 10 months. Therefore, Chau Binh commune is concerned and raises the question: Have these people violated journalistic ethics, or even impersonated journalists?

Based on our intuition, and the reality of journalism activities in the past few years in the province, although we have not yet verified or accessed related documents, we believe that the incident that happened in the poor commune of Chau Binh will be another "black mark", affecting the reputation and honor of journalists.

How to respond to the information sent by the grassroots? There were some hesitations. But the decision to receive and process the information from Chau Binh commune was made. Because only a short time later, we received information from the Department of Information and Communications: The Ethnic and Times Magazine had a document confirming that the subject in Chau Binh (using a stamped introduction letter with the name of this magazine) was not their staff or reporter. Moreover, when there is genuine information reflected from the grassroots, verifying, clarifying and responding is a principle, within the scope of authority and duty of the press agency, and also the responsibility and ethics of journalists towards society. As for the Nghe An Party Newspaper, it is also contributing with the authorities to eliminate existing problems in the area, causing frustration for the grassroots localities.

The pages of hard writing

Going back to Chau Binh to access the relevant records and documents, and talking to the officials who knew the story, the concerns and doubts about the group of subjects mentioned in Document No. 74/BC-UBND of the commune government were clearly well-founded. It is worth mentioning that through the documents, including letters of introduction, advertising and distribution contracts, it was shown that this group of people not only had signs of relationship with the magazine Dan Toc and Thoi Dai, but also with the magazine Tri Thuc Xanh.

Articles about the incident in Chau Binh were later published in both the print and electronic editions of Nghe An Newspaper. In addition to detailed information about the incident, these articles also provided information showing signs of their relationship with the two above-mentioned magazines. The reason for this is because what we aim for is not only to clarify the violations and handle them according to the law against this group of people, but also to hope that the authorities, based on the available information and documents, will further clarify the responsibilities of the two magazines.

Articles related to the incident in Quy Chau. Screenshot of Nghe An Newspaper.

The reason is that in the past, the situation of borrowing the name and hiding behind the press agency to cause trouble has become a problem, causing frustration for local authorities, units, organizations, businesses and individuals; and losing the trust of society in the press and in genuine journalists. One of the main reasons is the "blooming" of electronic newspapers and magazines.

These press agencies are licensed to operate on the basis of financial autonomy; among them, they recruit staff and reporters easily and arbitrarily; organize professional activities not aiming at the stated objectives and goals to be licensed to operate; their reporters and collaborators mainly focus on scrutinizing the mistakes of local bases, units, organizations, businesses and individuals to find ways to find mistakes, then force them to pay or write propaganda articles.

We encouraged each other that this was something that needed to be done, that had to be done. So that if the wrongdoings in Chau Binh were caused by the way the two magazine agencies received and used people, the handling would be at the root, or it would also be a practical story from the grassroots, contributing to helping the competent agencies to rectify press activities.

But writing lines that mention the dark side of the profession is really hard and heartbreaking. A little consolation is that after being published, the series of articles was received with respect not only by Chau Binh commune, Quy Chau district, but also by many local bases in the province.

And what we are aiming for has been received and handled by the authorities. That is, on October 16, 2020, the Department of Information and Communications issued Official Dispatch No. 1425/STTTT-TTBCXB on "handling information related to press activities in Quy Chau district" to the Provincial Police. Here, the Department of Information and Communications requested the Provincial Police to investigate the case of "signs of harassment of journalists in Quy Chau". Right in the early days of November 2020, we continued to receive information that the Provincial Police had directed the functional department to investigate and clarify, in which, based on the information and evidence, it will focus on the issues mentioned by Nghe An Newspaper.