Vietnam paper faces investigation over ``problems''

11:58 a.m. Dec 11, 1997 Eastern

By Adrian Edwards
HANOI, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Journalists at a Hanoi newspaper said on Thursday they were being investigated over unspecified ``reporting problems'' and said the paper was under threat of closure.

Staff at the Kinh Doanh Va Phap Luat newspaper said a press watchdog department at the Culture and Information Ministry was seeking punitive measures against the paper.

They said closure was one of several proposed steps, but work was continuing as normal and no decision had been made.

``During the past year there may have been some stories reported without full checking and accuracy, but every newspaper in Vietnam makes such mistakes,'' said a journalist.

Staff told Reuters that the paper, a weekly journal run by the Vietnam Lawyers Association, had been criticised for carrying stories and information ``which could be used by outsiders to criticise the country.'' They gave no details.

Officials at the Culture and Information Ministry's Press Department declined to discuss details, but described the probe as a ``normal activity in Vietnam.''

The action against Kinh Doanh Va Phap Luat (Business and Law) follows a series of recent moves by the authorities to affirm the traditional role of the media in Vietnam as a tool of ideological control.

Since reforms were introduced in the late 1980s there has been an explosion in the number of papers and journals, which currently number close to 500. Although strict state controls remain, reporting has become increasingly daring.

But in recent months Hanoi has moved to rein in the media.

In October Nguyen Hoang Linh, editor of the Doanh Nghiep newspaper, was arrested on charges of revealing national secrets.

A few weeks later the elite politburo issued a directive criticising newspapers for inaccurate reporting, revealing state secrets, bowing to pressures of commercialism, and for failing to report positively.

``They have distanced themselves from the aims and objectives of their service, neglected to encourage good people, good deeds, and positive factors in service of national construction and defence,'' the directive said.

Further measures were announced this week. On Tuesday the powerful Interior Ministry said it was establishing a new press wing to control information on security issues.

The ministry already has departments for monitoring Vietnamese and foreign journalists, their staff, and contacts.