VietNamNet Bridge – The Ha Noi-based Centre for Research on Development Communication issued a report yesterday, Oct 17, saying that more than 80 percent of domestic journalists and reporters had reported being blocked from gathering information.

Funded by the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office, the study, conducted in July and August as part of a bigger project between June 2011 and early 2012, interviewed nearly 400 journalists and reporters working for print, online, television and radio publications across the country, in addition to polling 72,000 online readers of six major publications.

The study identified 12 behaviors and actions that can be considered as blocking journalists and reporters from performing their duties. These include constant refusal from Government offices, agencies and other social entities to provide information; demand for bribes from sources; confiscation of media equipment; physical and psychological threats, among others.

Pham Doan Trang, a journalist and member of the research team, said journalists and sources in Viet Nam had no idea whether their actions could be classified as illegally blocking reporters and journalists from reporting.

The organisation calls for more efforts to protect journalists and permit them to perform their duties; more Government policies to prosecute those who obstruct journalists; and the creation of a better framework for spokespersons at various organisations to do their duties.

It also stated the necessity of a law on the provision of public information and the need for an information campaign to raise public awareness on journalists' rights and works.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News