In another alleged fabrication, the Hanoi Daily cited a “dissident Catholic” named Nguyen Duc Thang who reportedly opposed the protests.
While a parish priest was able to confirm that the man was one of his parishioners, he reported that he had died several years ago.
The newspaper also quoted Judge Vu Kim My from Kim Son, only to have the judge report that he had never said anything about the Thai Ha controversy.
According to VietCatholic News, he said the journalist who interviewed him only asked a few general questions about the law, but “everything else was fabricated.”
The Vietnamese media has also reported commentary from two alleged priests opposed to the demonstrators, but the two men had never been ordained.
On Sept. 4 a Hanoi television crew from VTV1 introduced as a Catholic a man who could not produce his Christian name. He eventually confessed he was a poor man and the television crew “gave me some money to act and speak as instructed.”
Remarks of Archbishop of Hanoi Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet were also reportedly distorted by the prominent Vietnamese media outlets.
During a meeting between the archbishop and the People’s Committee of Hanoi, the archbishop commented that “As frequent travelers, we often feel humiliated to be carrier of a Vietnamese passport because no matter where we go, we've always been subject to scrupulous inspection.”
He urged that Vietnam become a “strong, united country” so that its citizens may cross borders without being inspected, as Japanese and Korean citizens are able to do.
State-controlled media doctored the remark to say “we often feel humiliated to be carrying a Vietnamese passport.” The media then condemned him for smearing the nation.
Non-Catholics have also suffered from government control of the media, as in the case of two editors of two popular newspapers who exposed a national corruption scandal involving high-ranking officials. Because of their reports, Nguyen Van Hai was forced to serve a suspended sentence while Nguyen Viet Chien was sentenced to two years in prison.
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