VietNamNet Bridge - Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Bac Son told VietNamNet that the Party and the State leaders are public figures, and that it is normal for people to be interested in the health of State leaders. Timely reporting about leaders’ health is necessary.

Son said that timely reporting of the health condition of state leaders also prevents the publishing of inaccurate information. He cited the case of the German news agency DPA as an example.

(On July 20, the German news agency DPA reported that Minister Thanh passed away at a hospital in France. The information was immediately denied by the Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army - Lieutenant General Vo Van Tuan. The Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs also asked the DPA to make a correction. On July 21, DPA posted a new article, quoting Lieutenant General Vo Van Tuan as saying that Minister Thanh’s health was stable after surgery at the Georges Pompidou Hospital in France.”)

Son confirmed that reporting about the health of senior officials is not a “forbidden zone” of the local media.

“Recently, some leaders were sick, which would have been normal but some forces took advantage to tell bad news about the Party and the State. Without timely official information, in a certain moment the false information would have affected the mind and emotions of people,” Son said.

“Providing timely information to the press agencies to counter rumors on social networks must be promoted further,” he said.

“Some forces are always looking for loopholes to sabotage us. They take advantage of important political events of the country such as the upcoming Party Congress to incite or distort. So we must be alert to these forces, promote information and propaganda about the country’s economic achievements while opposing wrong information,” the Minister said.

Hong Nhi