Nguyen Thu Huong, Editor-in-chief of Lao Dong Nghe An, said that they have been seeking the cooperation of police agencies in Vinh City, of Nghe An Province, in helping to investigate a strange and threatening phone call made to one of their reporters. The call, received by Dang Trong Duc, on April 9 was a threat against his life.
Duc, who used the pen name Trong Duc, received the call around 2.30pm and managed to record it.
The threat came after Duc filed a series of stories exposing alleged violations of local authorities in Vinh City. The stories had to do with the illegal leasing of land to build kiosks. After the series was published the provincial government requested that the municipal authorities of Vinh City revoke the leases on the kiosks in question and fully investigate the case.
The caller described two other incidents in which journalists were attacked. After receiving the call Duc immediately called his employer for help.
He said, “I wrote a series of articles on Vinh authorities, which began early last year. The latest one was published on March 28. I tried to find out just who this strange person he was, but he turned off his phone," Trong Duc said.
He sent a recording of the call to authorities.
This was just the last in a string of such reported incidents. Recently, a reporter from Nong Nghiep Vietnam Newspaper also received threatening calls after filing an investigative report.
Some reporters have faced worse dangers than empty threats.
On the evening of April 9, reporter from Thanh Nien newspaper was attacked with acid while walking in Haiphong City. She was taken to the National Burn Hospital for treatment and reportedly suffered serious burns to her neck and arms and minor injuries to her face.
Last November Nguyen Duc Khanh, of Nong Thon Ngay Nay newspaper, was attacked in Can Tho after taking photos of the license number of a police car which had caused an accident.
Two other journalists, Nguyen Ngoc Nam, and Han Phi Long, from the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) were also attacked by a group suspected to have been hired by an official in Hung Yen Province. It widely believed that this attack was in retribution for a report on land reoccupation in the area.
Two VOV reporters attacked
Protection needed
A report released last December by Reporters Without Borders said that journalism remained one of the most dangerous careers in the world and that 135 journalists had died in relation to their work last year.
Le Quoc Trung, Vice Permanent Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists’ Association, said, “Recently there have been several cases of journalists who were obstructed from doing their work or physically attacked across the country, including some in Hanoi. This trend has been on the rise over the last couple years."
According to Trung, one of the most obvious incidents were the cases of Tran The Dung, a reporter of Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper, who was assaulted in Lang Son Province and that of a reporter from Khanh Hoa Newspaper was attacked in front of her office, seemingly in revenge uncovering a scam. In the capital, a Tien Phong reporter was also attacked.
Tran The Dung, a reporter from Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper assaulted in Lang Son Province
Ngo Huy Toan, from the Ministry of Information and Communication said that journalism must be widely respected as a public service so as to find ways to offer more legal protections to those who practice the craft of journalism.
