STATE MEDIA SPINS FICTITIOUS ACCOUNTS OF JAN 20 DISSIDENT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HO CHI MINH CITY 000037 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/MLS AND DRL/AWH E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PGOV PINS PROP PREL VM SUBJECT: STATE MEDIA SPINS FICTITIOUS ACCOUNTS OF JAN 20 DISSIDENT TRIAL REF: (A) HCMC 33 (NOTAL) (B) 09 HCMC 339 (NOTAL) HO CHI MIN 00000037 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: News reports on the January 20 trial of four democracy advocates (ref A) carried in Vietnam's tightly controlled media -- particularly the more reliably vitriolic papers connected to the armed forces and MPS -- clearly demonstrated why the GVN banned foreign observers and media from bringing recording devices, cell phones, and cameras into the trial--it prevented observers from easily countering the GVN's highly inaccurate accounts of the trial with the embarrassing truth. The MPS-controlled "An Ninh The Gioi" (World Security) newspaper provided the most egregious example of fraudulent reporting, including a fabricated interview with defendant Tran Huynh Duy Thuc on the courthouse steps. Significant untruths also appeared in "Quan Doi Nhan Dan" (People's Soldier) and other papers, as well as in the "stock" article published in numerous mainstream dailies. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) In an article printed on January 23, "An Ninh The Gioi" described an entirely fictitious interview with Tran Huynh Duy Thuc which the reporter claimed to have taken as he entered the courtroom. In reality, all four defendants were escorted by a phalanx of police officers from a police van directly into the court room; no one was able to approach, much less interview, the defendants. Only select Party officials were allowed in the courtroom itself. Reporters and diplomats were isolated in a separate room with CCTV (which was subject to frequent periods of "static" during testimony) and defendants' family members were isolated in a second CCTV room (where the audio feed was also censored). The fictitious interview was, not surprisingly, very damning, depicting defendants as unable or unwilling to respond to the reporter's insightful questions regarding their nefarious deeds. In one instance, the reporter asks Thuc if he had the background needed to be Economic Minister in a new government formed after the overthrow of the regime. In response, the reporter said "Thuc was silent." The "An Ninh The Gioi" article ran a reasonably accurate rendition of Le Cong Dinh's "non-confession" (in which he admitted to joining a party other than the CPV and thus breaking Vietnamese law),but then appended an additional sentence that Dinh never uttered -- "I was pulled into plots to overthrow the State's administration." ¶3. (SBU) That article and several others also reported that the trial was open to the public. It was not. A large crowd of people gathered in front of the courthouse but the only persons permitted to enter were family members, reporters and others with ID badges issued before the trial. Among family members, only immediate family members were given passes; others were left standing in the rain. While some foreign observers were allowed in, the numbers were strictly limited (only 2 EU representatives, and one each from the USA, Canada, and Australia). Representatives from independent groups such as International Bar Association (IBA) were denied entry entirely. The two IBA representatives also reported to foreign media that they were detained and questioned by immigration officials after being barred from entering the court. ¶4. (SBU) "An Ninh The Gioi" was more accurate when it reported that diplomats, including the Danish and EU Ambassadors Lysholt Hansen, EU Ambassador Sean Doyle, Canadian Cultural and Political Counselor Robert Burley, U.S. Consul General Kenneth Fairfax and Australian Deputy Principal Officer Chantelle Woodford, were at the trial. It fell short of the full truth, however, in two ways. First, the article implied that these diplomats were part of a larger group rather than the entire list of those permitted to attend. Numerous other Missions attempted to send representatives but the requests were denied. After receiving notice of the denial a Swedish diplomat nonetheless spent two hours standing in the rain trying to convince guards to let her in; she failed. Second, it claimed that the diplomats were in the courtroom, when as noted previously, they actually watched the proceedings via CCTV with the censored audio feed. ¶5. (SBU) A surprisingly honest and fairly accurate rendition of the heart of the indictment appeared in both Thanh Nien (Youth)'s Vietnamese daily and English weekly editions, as well as a few other papers. These papers noted that the accused were convicted of attempting to "overthrow the state" by weakening support for the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and encouraging opposition to it, so that the CPV would be eliminated by 2020. HO CHI MIN 00000037 002.2 OF 002 In other words, the activists were convicted of having engaged in political speech that cast the current government's policies in a critical light. Despite the headline-catching charges of sedition and conspiracy leveled against them, they were not accused of participating in an actual plot to actively subvert the government or of planning or using violence. ¶6. (SBU) COMMENT: When it comes to reporting on "sensitive" issues such as human rights cases and pro-democracy activists, highly misleading reporting in Vietnam's state- and party-controlled media is the norm. The style of the fabrications in these articles was also employed in the fictitious account published in mid-2009 of a meeting between the Ambassador and pro-democracy activist Do Nam Hai (ref B), with bits and pieces of truth interwoven with exaggerations, out-of-context items and pure fantasy. The open question, however, is whether this style of heavy-handed propaganda remains effective in today's world of global Internet news. The likely answer is: sometimes. Those interested, concerned and brave enough to search for the truth can still find it. While Internet censorship exists in Vietnam, it is neither sophisticated nor pervasive; a simple Internet search readily reveals multiple articles from foreign press with more accurate accounts of the trial. For many others -- those with less interest in politics, those worried about what security services monitoring their web browsing habits (mandatory in every Internet cafe) may find, and those whose political alignment leads them to want to believe the GVN/CPV version of events -- articles such as the "An Ninh The Gioi" fabrication probably play a major role in shaping opinions. End Comment. ¶7. (U) This cable was coordinated with Embassy Hanoi. FAIRFAX