Reporters and collaborators become 'worms'

(Baonghean) - As the founder of Vietnam's revolutionary press, President Ho Chi Minh once required journalists to clearly identify the target audience and the mission of the press is to serve the people; in criticizing the bad, the wrong, the backward, they must also contribute to bringing the public confidence in the truth and the strictness of the law... But looking back at journalistic activities in recent times, there are a number of reporters and collaborators who have violated journalistic ethics, eroding the trust of society.

Reporters, collaborators blackmail...

The case of three subjects, reporters and collaborators of the Law Protection Newspaper, who extorted money from businesses and organizations, which was brought to trial by the People's Court of Yen Thanh district on November 7, 2016, has truly caused a "shock" in society, seriously affecting the image of journalists and reporters.

These three subjects include Nguyen Gia Thoa (born in 1989, residing in Tan Hoi commune, Dan Phuong district, Hanoi), Phan Van Quan (born in 1974, residing in Hoa Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district), and Bui Van Toan (born in 1980, residing on Nguyen Chinh street, Tan Mai ward, Hoang Mai district, Hanoi).

In which, Thoa and Quan are collaborators; Toan is a reporter of Bao Ve Phap Luat Newspaper. The above subjects have carried out acts of extortion against Thanh Chung Cooperative in Tho Hop Commune (Quy Hop), Thanh Son Enterprise and Bao Thanh Commune People's Committee (both in Yen Thanh District), which are organizations and units with some "problems" in mineral exploitation and management; and those acts of the subjects were caught red-handed by Yen Thanh District Police on the evening of April 1, 2016, while receiving 20 million VND from the Director of Thanh Chung Cooperative, Mr. Nguyen Cao Chung.

Nguyen Gia Thoa and Phan Van Quan were arrested while extorting money from a business along with the amount of evidence the police confiscated.

The above case has been clarified by the investigation agency: at the end of March 2016, Thoa and Quan together grasped information about illegal mineral exploitation in Tho Hop commune, Quy Hop district. After that, Thoa wrote the article "Quy Hop, Nghe An: Despite the law, businesses still freely carve up resources". On April 1, 2016, Thoa received two phone calls from Mr. Nguyen Cao Chung (born in 1967, residing in Minh Hop commune, Quy Hop district) asking him to stop writing the article.

However, Thoa did not agree and sent the article to Bui Van Toan, and asked him to help review the article. At about 8:00 p.m. the same day, Quan came to see Thoa and said that Mr. Chung asked to stop writing. Thoa replied, "If he is so receptive, why doesn't he talk to me directly?"; then agreed to meet Mr. Chung in Yen Thanh district. At the same time, he called Bui Van Toan, "Don't send the article anymore, the company is asking for it." At about 11:45 p.m. on April 1, 2016, the meeting between Mr. Chung, Thoa, and Quan took place. Thoa set a condition that if he stopped writing, Mr. Chung had to give him 50 million VND to "take care" of his boss. When Thoa received the advance payment of 20 million VND from Mr. Chung, he was caught red-handed by Yen Thanh district police.

From this incident, the investigation agency has further clarified the extortion behavior of the subjects against Thanh Son enterprise and Bao Thanh commune People's Committee.

Regarding the criminal acts, on September 1, 2016, the People's Procuracy of Yen Thanh district prosecuted the defendants Nguyen Gia Thoa, Phan Van Quan, and Bui Van Toan for the crime of extortion of property under Clauses 1 and 2, Article 135 of the Penal Code. Brought to trial by the People's Court of Yen Thanh district, the subjects Nguyen Gia Thoa, Phan Van Quan, and Bui Van Toan had to admit that they took advantage of being reporters and collaborators of the Law Protection Newspaper to work, write articles reflecting the violations of organizations and units, and then "exchanged" how much money they had to pay if they wanted to stop publishing the articles.

The verdict read by the presiding judge at the trial stated clearly: The defendants' actions demonstrated recklessness and disregard for the law. The defendants' criminal acts not only violated the property rights of organizations and enterprises protected by the State and the law, but also disrupted social order and security, causing discontent among the masses. Therefore, it is necessary to strictly punish the defendants to have an educational, deterrent and general prevention effect.

Evidence seized by police when arresting Quan and Thoa.

Threaten the facility, ask for a contract

In early 2014, in Hung Nguyen district, a young man from the North, claiming to be a journalist for a Central newspaper, asked to work with the school's leadership. While working, this "journalist" often loudly demanded and scrutinized the financial revenue and expenditure, socialization work, and went down to the cafeteria to take pictures... At this time, Nghe An Newspaper also received information from the Principal of Hung Dao Primary School (Hung Nguyen) about a similar incident. Before contacting Nghe An Newspaper, the Principal asked some neighboring schools and learned that they had also been "visited" by this "journalist" and then offered a "contract" to write propaganda articles.

Together with the authorities directly verifying this “journalist”, it turned out that he was a reporter for the Mekong Times. However, all of the personal documents that this “journalist” carried (including an invalid letter of introduction from the governing body and a membership card of the Vietnam Journalists Association) were not enough to qualify him to practice his profession. Afterwards, the representative of the authorities contacted and reminded the leaders of the Mekong Times to strictly implement the provisions of the Press Law; to take measures to manage reporters during their work...

"Reporter card" and letter of introduction from Knowledge and Development Magazine.

Also informing Nghe An Newspaper, recently the leaders of Hung Binh Secondary School (Hung Binh Ward, Vinh City) said that the school had just been "visited" by two people claiming to be reporters from two magazines, Tri An and Tri Thuc Phat Trien. These two "investigative reporters" when working with the school leaders used inappropriate words; the content of the work was not as per the motto and purpose of the magazine they worked for, but only vaguely found fault with the school's socialization work... It is worth mentioning that the documents of these two people did not meet the standards for practicing journalism.

As for HQT, he has a "reporter" card number 19/PV/TTPT issued by the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Tri Thuc Phat Tri (Union of Science and Technology Associations of the Capital) on August 1, 2016, valid for 1 year, until August 1, 2017. As for PVH, he was issued a letter of introduction number 05/GGT dated September 21, 2016 by the Tri An Electronic Magazine (of the Association for Supporting Families of Vietnamese Martyrs); valid for more than 3 months, until December 30, 2016.

On the letter of introduction, the Editor-in-Chief of the Tri An Electronic Magazine introduced PVH as an “investigative reporter” who was sent to “Your agency or unit to find information and documents to serve the press work”. After being clearly explained the regulations of the Press Law, when the “reporters” contacted by phone, the leaders of Hung Binh Secondary School clearly expressed their views; and these “reporters” felt guilty…

The letter of introduction says Investigative Reporter of the Appreciation Electronic Magazine.

In October and November 2016, on social networking sites, the incident at Nghe An Rehabilitation Hospital was suddenly noticed by many reporters; including a clip recording images of several reporters and collaborators of Vietnam Law Newspaper, who were very young but had inappropriate behavior of journalists and reporters in the performance of their duties. Through investigation, it was known that from 2014 onwards, the Rehabilitation Hospital had a number of violations in the records and books of health insurance payment settlement.

This incident has been clarified by Vietnam Social Security; relevant provincial agencies have directed to inspect and thoroughly handle each violation. However, a reporter happened to work at the hospital and "got" the file; then this person "copied" and "shared" it with his "teammates".

From here, the Rehabilitation Hospital has been continuously visited by “journalists” for personal purposes; among them, some have published “investigative articles based on petitions”, accusing this unit of major violations and making this and that demands…

The reporter's card issued by the Vietnamese Craft Village Times was not in accordance with regulations. This "reporter" was also arrested by the authorities for property appropriation.

It is difficult to list all the “ugly” incidents of “journalists”, “reporters”, and collaborators that have left a bad impression in Nghe An. Many district and town leaders have reflected on the extremely offensive journalistic activities, showing the unprofessionalism and degradation of ethics and lifestyle of some “journalists”, “reporters”, and collaborators.

For example, in Tuong Duong district, there was one-way information about teacher transfers; in Con Cuong district, reporters went on a business trip and arbitrarily rented a motel for a long time, and when they left, they called the district leaders to ask for help returning it; in Anh Son and Thanh Chuong districts, there were reporters and collaborators who were not honest, working in a "lurking" manner, waiting until almost the end of working hours to take pictures of the commune office locking the door, then threatening to write an article if they did not sign a propaganda contract...

(To be continued)

PV GROUP