Enhancing the Press Role in Corruption Prevention

In fact, cumbersome administrative procedures are an opportunity for corruption and bribery to proliferate. According to the Global Competitiveness Report 2011 - 2012 by the World Economic Forum, to start up a business in Vietnam, a company needs an average of 9.94 documents and a time span of 44 days (ranking 113^th out of 142 countries), wastefulness of government spending ranks 102^nd (scoring 2.2 points on 7 point scale), payment for unofficial fees ranks 104^th (scoring 3.2 points on 7 point scale), and transparency in the process of planning guidelines and policies ranks 91^st (scoring 4 points on 7 point scale). Signs of business environment show that corruption still requires a lot of effort and work to be addressed.

 

Mr Nguyen Quang Vinh, Director of the Office of Sustainable Development for Business (SDforB), said there is a threshold for small and medium enterprises in Vietnam (which account for 90 per cent of active enterprises activities in the country) to apply rules of conduct, policies, regulations, and integrity programme against bribery, gift presentation and guest treatment. These regulations and policies have not been integrated into their business strategies, while bribery and corruption certainly have no good influence on their sustainable development, especially those which lack of core values and corporate culture.

 

He said that since 2010 the ITBI Project has conducted many research projects on corruption in the business sector in Vietnam, raised awareness, supported training on integrity in business for enterprises to create sustainable value, held policy dialogues between State management agencies such as the Inspectorate of Government, banks and land management units with the business community, updated the Law on Anti-corruption, the Law on Complaints and Denunciations, the Law on Land, and other legal documents. Beginning to form a press network to fight against corruption is part of the project’s major activities to join forces to improve the business environment and practices in Vietnam.

 

With the launch of the press network to fight against corruption, 40-60 journalists working at domestic press agencies are expected to join. ITBI is committed and willing to share information about activities, research surveys on integrity and transparency, while speeding up access to and disclosure of information to the press. ITBI will regularly update and share information related to anti-corruption work for journalists joining the network.

Speaking of the role of the press in the fight against corruption, Mr Vinh stressed that apart from the effort of the government, the cooperation of businesses and stakeholders, the fight against corruption indeed needs active participation from the media and press agencies.

 

Mr Duong Xuan Nam, former Editor-in-Chief of Tien Phong Newspaper, confirmed that newspaper, television and mass media in our country have recently made effective contributions to the fight against corruption. But, we have not succeeded in finding out the root and seeking solutions to eradicate corruption. He added that journalists are even in danger when they pursue corruption cases. Therefore, we need measures to protect journalists and prevent the degeneration of journalists when entering this field.

 

He also proposed a mechanism for journalist and press agency protection. The Vietnam Journalists' Association should have national journalism awards for articles, news, photos, reports and investigations on anti-corruption and wastage prevention. This awarding should be made independent of current annual national press awards. Besides, the royalty for articles on corruption, wastage prevention must be 2 or 3 times higher than normal rate. “We must have such specific measures to encourage anti-corruption efforts and profligacy prevention,” said Nam.