Nghe An warns and handles 50 electronic news sites

(Baonghean) - Recently, many electronic news sites have been operating without a license, causing many consequences for the information and communication sector. Nghe An Newspaper had an interview with Mr. Nguyen Ba Hao - Deputy Director of the Department of Information and Communication about the current management of electronic news sites.

Interface of tintucnghean.vn website

Reporter: It is known that the Department of Information and Communications has just sent a document requesting the Vietnam Internet Network Information Center (VNNIC) to temporarily suspend the operation of two electronic news sites tintucnghean.vn and ngheannews.vn because they have not been licensed. Can you provide detailed information about this matter?

Mr. Nguyen Ba Hao:Performing the function of state management in the area, recently, the Department of Information and Communications discovered a number of general electronic news sites that regularly cited news sources about Nghe An without a license and issued written reminders and rectifications, including sites with domain names such as tintucnghean.vn, ngheannews.vn operating but not yet licensed.

On September 16, 2016, the Department of Information and Communications sent Official Dispatch No. 1103/STTTT-QLBCXB to VNNIC requesting to suspend the operation of these two sites. On September 21, 2016, VNNIC issued Official Dispatch No. 811/VNNIC regarding “providing information and temporarily suspending the operation of the domain names tintucnghean.vn and ngheannews.vn”. Accordingly, VNNIC has temporarily suspended the operation of the two news aggregator sites with the above domain names, the suspension period is 45 days, starting from 3:00 p.m. on September 22, 2016. At the same time, the Department of Information and Communications also sent a document notifying the owners of the above domain names to complete the procedures to be licensed to operate according to regulations (if they want to continue operating).

PV: Currently, the massive development of general electronic news sites makes it difficult for many readers to distinguish between official electronic newspapers and electronic news sites. Can you explain more clearly the difference between these two types?

Mr. Nguyen Ba Hao:Electronic newspapers are a type of journalism built in the form of a website and published on the internet platform. Electronic newspapers operate like printed newspapers with a structure including an editor-in-chief, editorial department, reporters, etc. Electronic newspaper operating licenses are granted to agencies and organizations, not to businesses. Electronic newspapers are entitled to publish content (news, articles) produced by the newspaper or to quote information content from other newspapers (with copyright agreements).

A general news website is not a press agency. General news websites of organizations and enterprises are only allowed to provide general information on politics, economics, culture, and society based on information quoted from official sources of domestic press agencies, or from electronic information pages of Party and State agencies in accordance with the law on press and copyright. General news websites are not allowed to collect, write news, articles, or provide information like press agencies; therefore, they are not allowed to issue letters of introduction with the titles of "Reporter" and "Editor" for staff to work.

Reporter: So, it is clear that general electronic news sites themselves are not newspapers and do not have the functions of newspapers. However, in reality, some sites still operate as electronic newspapers, violating the Press Law, causing negative effects on viewers. How do you evaluate this issue?

Mr. Nguyen Ba Hao:Currently, the operation of general electronic news sites is quite complicated. Recently, the Department of Information and Communications has received feedback from a number of organizations and individuals about some general electronic news sites issuing letters of introduction as reporters to their staff to go to localities to exploit news and articles in the form of advertising contracts; posting recruitment for the positions of reporters and editors like a press agency.

Some agencies and units set up general electronic news websites but did not apply for a license according to regulations, were only granted domain names that were already active (domain names granted by VNNIC), even circumvented the law by stating on the website that it was in a trial run, or did not fully record information about the unit such as the governing agency, license number; some license pages have expired but have not been reissued... including some pages of State agencies.

Many electronic news aggregators, when citing news sources, in order to attract readers and serve advertising, only focus on citing sensational news, mainly negative news (murder, robbery, rape cases, sexy images of models, actors...), negative news about the locality, rarely aggregating good news, so it looks very offensive, causing negative effects on the psychology of readers. Some sites even deliberately edit the title, re-edit the content... when citing and consider it as their own product, causing outrage for the press agency.

Nghe An students participate in an online contest on the province's electronic information portal. Photo courtesy of Nghe An Newspaper

PV: So is this situation caused by the overload and lack of control of the state press management agency?

Mr. Nguyen Ba Hao: The Department regularly conducts inspections and reviews of electronic information sites in the area. In 2014, 2015 and the first 9 months of 2016, the Department reviewed over 400 general electronic news sites with registered owners in Nghe An and issued warnings and handling documents for over 50 general electronic news sites with violations, including some sites of State agencies and sites with owners residing in other localities.

However, it must also be admitted that, in reality, the work of building legal regulations to serve management in this field is not timely; the capacity of state management at times and in some places has not kept up with the development; the effectiveness of propaganda work to raise awareness for individuals, organizations and enterprises is not high. Some homepages of non-resident registration in Nghe An province, so the Department must coordinate with other localities to remind and handle, which partly reduces and slows down the effectiveness of management work.

PV: So in the coming time, what solutions will the department have to tighten management of the activities of electronic information sites?

Mr. Nguyen Ba Hao:Understanding the causes of the above situation, the Department of Information and Communications has proposed a number of specific solutions. First of all, it is necessary to advise on the issuance of legal documents to serve the management work. Directing press agencies to increase the time to propagate legal regulations to provide information to the people; organizing training for officials, especially grassroots officials on management work in this field to further improve state management capacity, promptly detect and prevent, and strictly handle violations according to the law.

In addition, the department will also conduct a comprehensive inspection of electronic information sites in the province and will resolutely and strictly handle sites that intentionally violate or do not comply with legal regulations on the operation of general electronic information sites.

In the long term, in order for the operation of electronic information sites to become more and more orderly and in compliance with legal regulations, a very important issue is to raise awareness of legal regulations for entities establishing general electronic information sites. Therefore, the Department will continue to open training courses on legal regulations, provide guidance, and answer questions for entities establishing electronic information sites in the area, thereby helping people understand and comply with legal regulations. In addition, relevant documents will be regularly updated on the Department's Electronic Information Portal for people to easily look up and follow.

PV: Thank you for the interview.

Phuong Thao (T/h)