Media of Vietnam
Encyclopedia
Media of Vietnam are tightly regulated by the Vietnamese government
. First and foremost, the media are a tool for government information and propaganda
. The government views the media as "the voice of the party and of the masses," and sees its main function as being "to propagate the party's lines and policies." Though market competition has caused the Vietnamese media to embrace popular culture
, newspaper
s, radio
and television
are still compelled to reflect on the fundamentals of Marxism
-Leninism
and the ideals of Ho Chi Minh
.
The first television broadcasts in Vietnam were in the 1960s when the United States
set up two channels (one Vietnamese language
and one in English
) in Saigon.
The national broadcaster Vietnam Television
(VTV) was established in Hanoi
with technical assistance and training from Cuba
in September 1970. VTV now is the largest television network in the nation, broadcast in nine FTA channels and available internationally via satellite. VTV also operates the largest cable network (VCTV) and a DTH satellite service. These carry the nine FTA VTV channels: VTV1 - VTV9 (no VTV 7, VTV8), fourteen Vietnamese subscription channels: VCTV1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (RealTV), 6, 7, 8 (BiBi), 9 (InfoTV), 10 (O2TV), 11 (TV Shopping), 12 (Style TV), 15 (Invest TV), Bóng Đá TV, and about 45 local & international channels.
VTC is a Vietnamese state-owned corporation under Ministry of Post and Telematics. It has 3 FTA channels VBC-VTC5 -the entertainment channel, TodayTV-VTC7- the movie channel, and Let's Viet-VTC9 -the Vietnamese culture channel, and a number of subscription channels including VTC2 - the IT & ICT channel, VTC3 - The sport channel. VTC4 - the fashion and style channel, VTC6 - the movie channel. Three new channels now broadcast for examination are VTC7 - the second VTC1, VTC10 the interactive channel and VTC11 - kid's tv, VTC12 Advertising channel, VTC14 Natural Disaster, VTC16 Argiculture
In 2006, VTC Mobile TV, one of the world's first subscription TV services for mobile phones, became available using DVB-H
. It is operated by Vietnam Multimedia Corporation
, owners of VTC.
(HTV). The latter is available over most of the Mekong Delta
.
and Ho Chi Minh City
) subscribe to a cable network. The largest network is VCTV (a division of VTV), follows by that of Ho Chi Minh City Television
(HTV), Hanoi TV (HCTV), and Saigon Tourist Cable Service (SCTV) - a joint venture between VTV and Saigon Tourist company. The latest payTV supplier is K+ - a joint venture between Vietnam Cable Television (VCTV) and Canal+
, first broadcast in later 2009 via Direct To Home (DTH).
radio transmission was made on September 2, 1945 when Ho Chi Minh
read out the Declaration of Independence.
Prior to 1945, Vietnamese people were banned from owning radio receivers, and broadcasting was under control of the French colonial government
, which established the first radio station in Vietnam, Radio Saigon, in the late 1920s.
Vietnam's national radio station, now called the Voice of Vietnam, started broadcasting from Hanoi the just a week after declaration of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
. During the Vietnam War
, Radio Hanoi
operated as a propaganda tool of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam
.
South Vietnam
set up its own network in Saigon in 1955.
Following Reunification, all of the radio stations were combined into the Voice of Vietnam, which became the national radio station in 1978.
Today, VOV strives to offer diverse, high-quality programming and in every aspect of mass media. It broadcasts on many channels, repeated on Medium wave (MW) AM
, FM
and shortwave (SW) AM
bands throughout Vietnam and the rest of the world:
As of 2004, it was estimated that VOV’s programs reached more than 90% of all households in Vietnam.
In addition, most cities and provinces has their own radio stations.
The first Vietnamese-language
newspaper was the French-sponsored Gia Định Bao, established in Saigon in 1869. In the years that followed, both the nationalistic and the colonial sides relied on newspapers as a propaganda tool. During the final period of French colonialism many reporters were arrested and imprisoned and several newspaper offices closed by the authorities.
For Ho Chi Minh's revolutionary side, Vietnamese journalists covered the First Indochina War
. After the war, presses were set up in Hanoi and the basis for the country's newspaper industry as it exists today was formed, with the main Communist Party
organ, Nhan Dan
(The People), established in 1951.
Current large Vietnamese-language newspapers include Tuoi Tre
(Youth, published in Ho Chi Minh City
, described as a "reformist" newspaper), Thanh Nien
(Youth), Nguoi Lao Dong (Labour or The Worker), Tien Phong
(Vanguard), Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Saigon), and Ha noi moi (New Hanoi). Prominent French language newspapers include Saigon Eco and Le Courrier du Vietnam
. There are other, smaller provincial newspapers such as the Ba Ria Vung Tau Daily Newspaper
.
The largest online newspapers are VNexpress
, Vietnam Net, Tuoi Tre
, 24h.com.vn, Dan Tri. The largest online news aggregator in Vietnam is Baomoi.com
Politics of Vietnam
Notwithstanding the 1992 Constitution's affirmation of the central role of the Communist Party, the National Assembly, according to the Constitution, is the highest representative body of the people and the only organization with legislative powers. It has a broad mandate to oversee all government...
. First and foremost, the media are a tool for government information and propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
. The government views the media as "the voice of the party and of the masses," and sees its main function as being "to propagate the party's lines and policies." Though market competition has caused the Vietnamese media to embrace popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
, newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s, radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
are still compelled to reflect on the fundamentals of Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
-Leninism
Leninism
In Marxist philosophy, Leninism is the body of political theory for the democratic organisation of a revolutionary vanguard party, and the achievement of a direct-democracy dictatorship of the proletariat, as political prelude to the establishment of socialism...
and the ideals of Ho Chi Minh
Ho Chi Minh
Hồ Chí Minh , born Nguyễn Sinh Cung and also known as Nguyễn Ái Quốc, was a Vietnamese Marxist-Leninist revolutionary leader who was prime minister and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam...
.
Vietnam Television
The first television broadcasts in Vietnam were in the 1960s when the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
set up two channels (one Vietnamese language
Vietnamese language
Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...
and one in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
) in Saigon.
The national broadcaster Vietnam Television
Vietnam Television
Vietnam Television, or VTV, is the national television broadcaster for Vietnam. Like all media of Vietnam, its programming is directly controlled by the government.-History:...
(VTV) was established in Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
with technical assistance and training from Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
in September 1970. VTV now is the largest television network in the nation, broadcast in nine FTA channels and available internationally via satellite. VTV also operates the largest cable network (VCTV) and a DTH satellite service. These carry the nine FTA VTV channels: VTV1 - VTV9 (no VTV 7, VTV8), fourteen Vietnamese subscription channels: VCTV1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (RealTV), 6, 7, 8 (BiBi), 9 (InfoTV), 10 (O2TV), 11 (TV Shopping), 12 (Style TV), 15 (Invest TV), Bóng Đá TV, and about 45 local & international channels.
Vietnam Multimedia Corporation (VTC)
VTC operates five national channels and is the only provider of digital terrestrial television (DTT) in Vietnam. VTC's DTT service is a subscription service though piracy of the signal is rampant.VTC is a Vietnamese state-owned corporation under Ministry of Post and Telematics. It has 3 FTA channels VBC-VTC5 -the entertainment channel, TodayTV-VTC7- the movie channel, and Let's Viet-VTC9 -the Vietnamese culture channel, and a number of subscription channels including VTC2 - the IT & ICT channel, VTC3 - The sport channel. VTC4 - the fashion and style channel, VTC6 - the movie channel. Three new channels now broadcast for examination are VTC7 - the second VTC1, VTC10 the interactive channel and VTC11 - kid's tv, VTC12 Advertising channel, VTC14 Natural Disaster, VTC16 Argiculture
In 2006, VTC Mobile TV, one of the world's first subscription TV services for mobile phones, became available using DVB-H
DVB-H
DVB-H is one of three prevalent mobile TV formats. It is a technical specification for bringing broadcast services to mobile handsets. DVB-H was formally adopted as ETSI standard EN 302 304 in November 2004. The DVB-H specification can be downloaded from the official DVB-H website...
. It is operated by Vietnam Multimedia Corporation
Vietnam Multimedia Corporation
Vietnam Multimedia Corporation or Vietnam Television Corporation is a large multimedia corporation in Vietnam. It was founded on February, 1988 by Vietnam Television with the main purpose to construct television stations...
, owners of VTC.
Local stations
These include Hanoi TV and Ho Chi Minh City TelevisionHo Chi Minh City Television
Ho Chi Minh City Television is the official televised channel of Ho Chi Minh City. HTV broadcasts in three channels: entertainment & advertisement service and gameshow on HTV7, information, propaganda-trend, official and analog-digital on HTV9, and HTV4. HTV also has several specific cable and...
(HTV). The latter is available over most of the Mekong Delta
Mekong Delta
The Mekong Delta is the region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea through a network of distributaries. The Mekong delta region encompasses a large portion of southwestern Vietnam of . The size of the area covered by water depends on the season.The...
.
Other Subscription TV
Since 1991, hotels, restaurants, clubs, government offices and diplomatic organizations in Vietnam have been permitted under license to install and operate satellite dishes to bring in foreign programming. Nowaday, most of people in large cities (such as HanoiHanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
and Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
) subscribe to a cable network. The largest network is VCTV (a division of VTV), follows by that of Ho Chi Minh City Television
Ho Chi Minh City Television
Ho Chi Minh City Television is the official televised channel of Ho Chi Minh City. HTV broadcasts in three channels: entertainment & advertisement service and gameshow on HTV7, information, propaganda-trend, official and analog-digital on HTV9, and HTV4. HTV also has several specific cable and...
(HTV), Hanoi TV (HCTV), and Saigon Tourist Cable Service (SCTV) - a joint venture between VTV and Saigon Tourist company. The latest payTV supplier is K+ - a joint venture between Vietnam Cable Television (VCTV) and Canal+
Canal+
Canal+ is a French premium pay television channel launched in 1984. It is 80% owned by the Canal+ Group, which in turn is owned by Vivendi SA. The channel broadcasts several kinds of programming, mostly encrypted...
, first broadcast in later 2009 via Direct To Home (DTH).
Radio
The first Vietnamese-languageVietnamese language
Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...
radio transmission was made on September 2, 1945 when Ho Chi Minh
Ho Chi Minh
Hồ Chí Minh , born Nguyễn Sinh Cung and also known as Nguyễn Ái Quốc, was a Vietnamese Marxist-Leninist revolutionary leader who was prime minister and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam...
read out the Declaration of Independence.
Prior to 1945, Vietnamese people were banned from owning radio receivers, and broadcasting was under control of the French colonial government
French Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
, which established the first radio station in Vietnam, Radio Saigon, in the late 1920s.
Vietnam's national radio station, now called the Voice of Vietnam, started broadcasting from Hanoi the just a week after declaration of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
North Vietnam
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
. During the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, Radio Hanoi
Radio Hanoi
Radio Hanoi was a propaganda radio station run by the North Vietnamese Army during the Vietnam War.In September 1967, Radio Hanoi transmitted a message by General Võ Nguyên Giáp entitled "The Big Victory, The Great Task". Unbenknownst to Americans listening to the message, it was actually an...
operated as a propaganda tool of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam
North Vietnam
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
.
South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
set up its own network in Saigon in 1955.
Following Reunification, all of the radio stations were combined into the Voice of Vietnam, which became the national radio station in 1978.
Today, VOV strives to offer diverse, high-quality programming and in every aspect of mass media. It broadcasts on many channels, repeated on Medium wave (MW) AM
AM broadcasting
AM broadcasting is the process of radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation. AM was the first method of impressing sound on a radio signal and is still widely used today. Commercial and public AM broadcasting is carried out in the medium wave band world wide, and on long wave and short wave...
, FM
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
and shortwave (SW) AM
Shortwave
Shortwave radio refers to the upper MF and all of the HF portion of the radio spectrum, between 1,800–30,000 kHz. Shortwave radio received its name because the wavelengths in this band are shorter than 200 m which marked the original upper limit of the medium frequency band first used...
bands throughout Vietnam and the rest of the world:
- VOV1 (MW and SW) - news, current affairs and music
- VOV2 (MW and SW) - cultural and artistic programs
- VOV3 (FM) - music & entertainment
- VOV4 (MW) - ethnic minority language programming
- VOV5 (MW) - world service broadcasts in 11 foreign languages
- VOV News - a website containing news and other aspects
- VOVTV( Television Channel)- nationally broadcast which aims at delivering update news every 30 minutes per program
- VOV newspaper 'the Voice of Vietnam'- a printed version with more in-depth contents of VOVnews website
- VOV transportation - updating information during rush hours to help people travel smoothly through traffic jams.
As of 2004, it was estimated that VOV’s programs reached more than 90% of all households in Vietnam.
In addition, most cities and provinces has their own radio stations.
Newspapers
As Vietnam moves toward a free-market economy with its doi moi measures, the government has relied on the print media to keep the public informed about its policies. The measure has had the effect of almost doubling the numbers of newspapers and magazines since 1996.The first Vietnamese-language
Vietnamese language
Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...
newspaper was the French-sponsored Gia Định Bao, established in Saigon in 1869. In the years that followed, both the nationalistic and the colonial sides relied on newspapers as a propaganda tool. During the final period of French colonialism many reporters were arrested and imprisoned and several newspaper offices closed by the authorities.
For Ho Chi Minh's revolutionary side, Vietnamese journalists covered the First Indochina War
First Indochina War
The First Indochina War was fought in French Indochina from December 19, 1946, until August 1, 1954, between the French Union's French Far East...
. After the war, presses were set up in Hanoi and the basis for the country's newspaper industry as it exists today was formed, with the main Communist Party
Communist Party of Vietnam
The Communist Party of Vietnam , formally established in 1930, is the governing party of the nation of Vietnam. It is today the only legal political party in that country. Describing itself as Marxist-Leninist, the CPV is the directing component of a broader group of organizations known as the...
organ, Nhan Dan
Nhân Dân
Nhân Dân is the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Vietnam. According to the newspaper, it is “the voice of the Party, State and people of Vietnam.”...
(The People), established in 1951.
Current large Vietnamese-language newspapers include Tuoi Tre
Tuoi Tre
Tuổi Trẻ is a major daily newspaper in Vietnam, publishing in Vietnamese from Hồ Chí Minh City. It was originally a publication of the Hồ Chí Minh Communist Youth Organization of Hồ Chí Minh City, and while it is still the official mouthpiece of that organization, it has grown to become the...
(Youth, published in Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
, described as a "reformist" newspaper), Thanh Nien
Thanh Nien
Thanh Nien News is a Ho Chi Minh city-based newspaper in Vietnam. It is one of the most circulated newspapers in Vietnam. Thanh Nien News is released in Vietnamese and English. Thanh Nien News is an official organ of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth League and mainly focuses on social affairs....
(Youth), Nguoi Lao Dong (Labour or The Worker), Tien Phong
Tiền Phong
Tiền Phong is a commune and village in Yên Dũng District, Bac Giang Province, in northeastern Vietnam.-References:...
(Vanguard), Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Saigon), and Ha noi moi (New Hanoi). Prominent French language newspapers include Saigon Eco and Le Courrier du Vietnam
Le Courrier du Vietnam
Le Courrier du Vietnam is the main French language newspaper published in Vietnam. - External links :**...
. There are other, smaller provincial newspapers such as the Ba Ria Vung Tau Daily Newspaper
Ba Ria Vung Tau Daily Newspaper
Ba Ria Vung Tau Daily Newspaper is a newspaper agency in Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Vietnam. As an official newspaper in Ba Ria, Vung Tau, the newspaper gives easy access to various topics, such as economy, culture, and life in the province.-Timeline:...
.
The largest online newspapers are VNexpress
VnExpress
VnExpress is a Vietnamese online newspaper, run by FPT Corporation. It has the highest ranking among other e-newspapers in Vietnam on Alexa.com, number 4, only after Yahoo!, Google, and Google Vietnam....
, Vietnam Net, Tuoi Tre
Tuoi Tre
Tuổi Trẻ is a major daily newspaper in Vietnam, publishing in Vietnamese from Hồ Chí Minh City. It was originally a publication of the Hồ Chí Minh Communist Youth Organization of Hồ Chí Minh City, and while it is still the official mouthpiece of that organization, it has grown to become the...
, 24h.com.vn, Dan Tri. The largest online news aggregator in Vietnam is Baomoi.com
See also
- Cinema of VietnamCinema of VietnamThe cinema of Vietnam originates in the 1920s, and has largely been shaped by wars that have been fought in the country from the 1940s to the 1970s. Better known Vietnamese language films include Cyclo, The Scent of Green Papaya and Vertical Ray of the Sun, all by French-trained Việt Kiều director...
- Communications in VietnamCommunications in VietnamCommunications in Vietnam include the use of telephones, radio, television and Internet.-Telephones:Vietnam is putting considerable effort into modernization and expansion of its telecommunication system, but its performance continues to lag behind that of its more modern neighbors...
- Culture of VietnamCulture of VietnamThe Culture of Vietnam, an agricultural civilization based on the cultivation of wet rice, is one of the oldest in East Asia; the ancient Bronze age Dong Son culture is considered to be one of its most important progenitors...
- Current events in Southeast Asia