Staff at the Kinh Doanh Va Phap Luat newspaper said a press watchdog department at the Culture and Information Ministry was seeking punitive measures against the paper. They gave no details. But in recent months Hanoi has moved to rein in the media. In October Nguyen Hoang Linh, editor of the Doanh Nghiep newspaper, was arrested on charges of revealing national secrets. A few weeks later the elite politburo issued a directive criticizing newspapers for inaccurate reporting, revealing state secrets, bowing to pressures of commercialism, and for failing to report positively.
Overseas articles can cause problems for Vietnam.
Party and state officials say foreign news reports about Vietnam are often too critical. Even stories not directly about Vietnam can be a matter for concern or embarrassment. Recent clashes between riot police and Catholic protesters in southern Vietnam's Dong Nai province and months of protests in northern province Thai Binh have been widely reported by foreign news organisations, but not mentioned by the domestic media. Police in Ho Chi Minh City burned 15 tons of banned compact discs, videos, magazines and other items in a show of resolve to purge Vietnam of what the government calls culturally impure items including anti-communist materials, a local official sid Friday.