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VIR-news
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| New move to deal with the media relations |
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The government has ordered state administrative agencies to identify a spokesperson and give their name and title to the media, a move that could help improve the media’s access to official information.
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The local media often find themselves in a dearth of official information |
Decision 77/2007/QD-TTg, which was signed by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung last week, makes the head of an agency or a person nominated by them to be the body’s spokesperson. Their role will be making announcements and providing information to the media.
Observers say the media, to a certain extent, would enjoy better access to official information, as the decision also requires ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, and people’s committees of cities and provinces to update information on their websites for the media once every month or at least every three months. They must also hold a press meeting at least once every six months.
The decision states that a spokesperson must provide accurate and timely information to the media if there is an event or problem that requires the state agency to make an announcement, or when media organisations or press management agencies ask them to provide information.
“The regulations will make it easier for me to find a contact and get the agency’s view,” said Bach Ba, a journalist in Hanoi. She said having a spokesperson in place was a common practice in many foreign countries.
However, there are concerns that the decision may also restrict journalists. As Article 2.4 states, those who are not assigned to be a spokesperson or who are not authorised to supply information to the media will not be allowed to do so on behalf of their agencies. They are not allowed to reveal secrets or secret information about investigations. It is also forbidden to provide wrong or dishonest information to the media.
Observers say this article is controversial and could cause confusion. Some local reporters claimed it could make other officials within state administrative agencies become reluctant to deal with them. Moreover, the spokesperson, possibly the only one officially authorised to speak to the media, may be overloaded and unable to answer every journalist’s in-depth questions about a specific subject at once. As a result, it could take long time for journalists and readers to get answers they need.
A spokesman for a ministry, who declined to be named, said that whenever he had to deal with specific and in-depth questions, he must ask his colleagues for help. Therefore, he said, it might be better to allocate the rights to answer journalists’ questions to a group of individuals. Spokespeople should take responsibility for clarifying the point of view of the agency about complex issues and introduce the right person for the press to interview or ask for in-depth information.
Some government officials, however, argued that Article 2.4 would help government bodies as it prevented them from disclosing secret, unsafe or inaccurate information.
Le Dung, the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who is often chased by both domestic and international journalists, told Vietnam Investment Review that he supported this view. Dung said the regulation was not only helpful for government officials but also for reporters because it guaranteed them access to official and accurate information from government agencies.
Le Quoc Trung, the deputy chairman of the Vietnam Journalists Association, told VIR that it was still too early to make any complaints about the decision as it was only signed a few days ago. “The provisions in the decision need to be implemented for some time. During the implementation process, if it deters reporters from getting timely information, the association will collect reporters’ ideas to submit to the prime minister and responsible agencies,” Trung said.
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By Binh Chau
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