South Korea Sri Lanka Thailand Vanuatu Vietnam Parliament adopted a new law on the press on 19 May. In fact, the law gives the culture and information ministry entire responsibility for running the media and in particular the internet, which has been accessible in Vietnam for just over a year. This means that the ministry has the power to decide what subjects should be covered, paying particular attention to the struggle against corruption.
Journalists are still liable to prison sentences in cases of libel and publishing false information.
They are also obliged to pay damages and to publicly apologise when someone believes they were libelled in a report, even if the information given is accurate. With the approval of the new law, the communist government once again legalised its control over Vietnam's 600 or so publications, radio, television and the internet. In the months leading up to the vote on the bill, various newspapers referred to cases of corruption involving government officials, although self-censorship is still common. An underground press is published irregularly. Journalists jailed The government announced on 2 September that it had decided to grant an amnesty to 6,028 prisoners, most of whom had been convicted of minor offences.