The news their way

By: Adrian Aitken

Here in America we take the privilege of the freedom of press for granted. Its is the only profession protected under law and journalists push their boundaries everyday. Others though aren't as lucky.

Vietnam has a fairly strict grasp on the country's media because of its communist government. Journalists are held accountable for everything they publish, especially if the material makes the government look bad. Vietnam though is a little unusual in how it regulates the media.

The government is communist but when a more conservative party is in charge they give the media a little more room to work. The party found that the unraveling of corruption is popular among the people so they ordered journalists to find such stories. One such man in Vietnam found a story and reported on it illustrating a case of corruption in the country's government. Later he was brought to court and sentenced to two years of detention.

This shows how we have been given such a privilege here in the country and ought to try and show some more respect for the media and the founders who gave us such a gift.