Journalists, in a meeting yesterday to review the previous year's activities and discuss the action plan for this year, showed their dissatisfaction about the bad treatment of working reporters.
Last year, the Vietnam Journalists Association received complaints from five journalists who were either assaulted or obstructed while they were working.
The latest case was reported yesterday when two journalists from Binh Duong Television and Radio were assaulted as they were making a report on transport safety, which focused on pavement violations.
Bui Nguyen Thai Duy and Le Thi My were assaulted by a group of people from a coffee shop off Binh Duong avenue, which uses the pavement in front of the shop for motorbike parking. Duy was left with an injured eye and was bruised all over his body.
The local police are questioning and investigating the suspects involved in the assault.
The national association, which intervened to help solve four of the five cases from last year, is examining the file reported yesterday by the Binh Duong Journalists Association about the assault.
The prosecution and investigation of those assaults, however, were not implemented properly and were done slowly, said the President of the national association, Dinh The Huynh, at a meeting yesterday in Hanoi.
The association's executive board had voiced their concerns about the inappropriate judgement and ineffective punishment for the case, said Huynh, who called on relevant bodies and local authorities to take these cases more seriously.
The association said it would take responsibility for supervising and lobbying for the implementation of these cases.
The meeting yesterday also prepared for the Association's 9th National Congress in August in Hanoi and discussed a draft for its executive board and standing committee's review.
Many journalists praised the association's efforts to help improve the poor facilities at local affiliates.
The association's members discussed and contributed their ideas to the Government's legal documents in order to create favourable conditions for journalists.
Last year saw the association's journalism intensive training centre administered 39 classes for more than 1,000 members.
The meeting approved a plan to organise its 60th anniversary of the association's establishment and the 85th anniversary of the founding of Vietnam Revolutionary Journalism this year.
