A conference to share Vietnam-United Kingdom experience on defamation law is held on March 10 in Hanoi with the support of the British Embassy Hanoi. This is the first conference on international defamation law in Vietnam, with the involvement of journalists, key press regulators and the legal authorities.
Participants include members Journalism Department of the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Journalists’ Association, lawyers and top editors.
“We will show how defamation law as applied in the UK can both protect the reputation of individuals and organizations but also enable the media to report responsibly about matters of significance for the public such as corruption and public wrong doings. We will also ask whether there are any lessons to be learnt for Vietnam.” says Stephen Whittle, former BBC Controller of Editorial Policy and visiting fellow, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford.
The conference focusses on discussing defamation issues in Vietnam, introducing British law concepts of privilege and how defamation law and regulations can support the test of public interest and “responsible journalism.”
“We hope those basic concepts of defamation law might help to resolve problems that the top editors in Vietnam are facing. It could provide clear-cut guidelines for them on how they report and publish statements that risk serious reputational damage to individuals or organisations. We will discuss hot questions from Vietnamese press, for example, the definition of public interest, the standard processes for checking information on the quality of products, such as food or drugs, a bank’s financial situation or ongoing public inquiries,” says Tran Le Thuy, visiting fellow, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford and manager of “UK-Vietnam Libel Law: Sharing the Experience” project.
Peter Connolly, the British Charge D’Affaires, says, “The UK has a long tradition of free and open media. With freedom comes responsibilities and we are pleased to share UK experience in responding to this challenge. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese media has developed rapidly together with the pace of the economic prosperity. Several newspapers have revenues of multi-million dollars and significant influence on readers’ attitudes and government policies and decisions. At the same time, there are an increasing number of libel cases taken to the court. We hope the sharing of British experience on defamation law will help Vietnam to develop and regulate a healthy, responsible press, and protect individual and organisational reputation efficiently.”
Vietnamese
