VietNamNet Bridge - Chief Editor Vo Dang Thien and Deputy Editor Pham Thanh of the online newspaper Infonet have been suspended in order to clarify personal responsibility for the newspaper’s recent violation, according to a decision issued by the Ministry of Information and Communications on October 19.

Thien and Thanh will be suspended from their position for 15 days, starting from October 19th.

During this time Deputy Editor Nguyen Van Ba will be in charge of Infonet.

In early October Petrotimes online newspaper’s chief editor Nguyen Nhu Phong was also dismissed. His press card was revoked and his online newspaper locked for three months.

The reason stated is that the online newspaper committed"violations in journalism activities", which were not specified. 

The Ministry of Information and Communication will consider opening the online newspaper again after three months.

When the suspension ends, the ministry will consider the case and make a decision on whether or not the newspaper can continue running its online version, following Press Law regulations.

Petrotimes electronic newspaper of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Association was licensed in September 2011. Phong, 61, has been editor-in-chief of the website since the launch.

Phong was formerly deputy editor-in-chief of the An Ninh The Gioi (World Security) newspaper and editor-in-chief of the Cong An Nhan Dan (People’s Public Security) newspaper before becoming editor-in-chief of the Nang Luong Moi (New Energy) newspaper, mouthpiece of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Association.

Phong was best known as the screenwriter of many TV series on crime such as Criminal Police, White Collar ...

The Ministry of Information and Communications recently asked press agencies to review the issuance of documents and cards that could easily be confused with journalists' cards.

Le Ha