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More than 1,000 reporters, editors and administrative staff from state-controlled Vietnamese broadcasters, including Voice of Vietnam’s VTC Digital Television, lost their jobs on Wednesday as the channels were taken off the air, state media reported.
VTC’s 13 channels, along with others unconnected to Voice of Vietnam such as People’s Television and Vietnam News Agency Television, stopped broadcasting on the morning of Jan. 15. National Assembly Television had already shut down on Jan. 1. While regional broadcasters are still on air, the goal is to make Vietnam Television the country’s only channel.
The closures are part of a plan by the Communist Party’s top decision making body the Politburo to streamline the political system and cut costs as outlined in Resolution 18, which aims to eliminate overlap in government enterprises and reduce the number of civil servants by a fifth.
VTC Digital Television was established in 2004 and became a non-business unit under the Ministry of Information and Communications in 2014. The following year, it was merged into the state Voice of Vietnam news agency.
VTC, Vietnam’s second most-watched station behind Vietnam Television, broadcast nationwide, disseminating party propaganda.
One staff member, who worked for VTC for 20 years, told Radio Free Asia she and her colleagues were shocked and confused by its abrupt closure.
“They don’t know where to go and what to do,” said the woman, who didn’t want to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter. “Employees haven’t been informed about any [compensation] policies. Any decision should consider workers’ interests.”
“ We have dedicated many years to the job, are financially independent, and are not paid by the state budget. Why do they shut down our channels so abruptly without a proper roadmap?”
Administrative staff described the closure of VTC as “destructive,” wasting millions of dollars of machinery and equipment – state assets now idle.
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Ho Chi Minh City-based independent journalist Nam Viet said he wouldn’t miss the propaganda channels, often considered the “lifeblood of the government.”
“Quite a few reporters have taken to social media to lament and regret that they have dedicated many years [to the state]. Now they’re being forced out but their sharing is more ironic than pity-inducing, because they have been the henchmen of a propaganda system that is nothing to be proud of … not journalists who dared to speak up for people’s suffering and fight for justice.”
Academic Nguyen Hoang Anh, who has worked on programs for VTC and other broadcasters, said relying on a single channel would likely lead to many important issues being overlooked.
“Shutting down VTC will scale down the dissemination of information and leave viewers with fewer choices,” she said, adding that Vietnam Television mainly focuses on politics, whereas VTC covered social issues such as women’s rights and education.
Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Mike Firn.