VNExpress-Apr 16
Journalists and legal experts are objecting to a draft law amendment that imposes limits on how journalists can record both audio and video in a courtroom. The Supreme People’s Court proposed in the draft amendment to the Law on Organization of People’s Courts that recordings be conducted only during trials’ opening sessions and the announcement of verdicts. The proposal is being considered by National Assembly agencies. But journalists have already encountered trouble doing their jobs in the courtroom. At major trials the past months regarding the Covid-19 repatriation flight briberyscandal and the Covid-19 test kit scam, which involved former top government officials, as well as the recent hearing of Van Thinh Phat, the biggest fraud case ever tried in Vietnam, journalists were only allowed to bring pens and paper. Vu An, a journalist with Dan Viet newspaper, said: “Not being allowed to record or film in the courtroom makes it very difficult for journalist to convey the information to the readers, given the big number of statements from the accused, and the complications of grand cases.” An said with recordings, journalists can verify their own writings and avoid being sued for publishing false information. Journalist Nguyen Hoang Hai, who has many years of experience reporting trials in Hanoi, said the proposal is hampering journalistic work and goes against the spirit of “public hearings” stipulated in the Constitution, which says that a hearing is only closed to protect national secrets, national prestige, or to protect underage people or personal secrets based on one’s “righteous demands.” Nguyen Quang Dong, director of the Institute for Policy Studies and Media Development, said that in the age of information technology, journalists cannot be banned from making recordings in the courtroom. Read more at: https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/draft-law-restricting-journalists-courtroom-rights-meets-opposition-4735207.html
